Scoping Study Final Report.. - Letterkenny Institute of Technology

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North West Gateway Strategic Alliance (NWGSA) Scoping StudyOverview1. IntroductionThis independent Scoping Study has been prepared by Indecon InternationalEconomic Consultants, in association with London Economics, for the University ofUlster (Ulster) and Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT). The purpose is toexamine whether scope exists for the delivery of additional higher education (HE) inthe North West Gateway Strategic Alliance Region (NWGSA Region), which hasbeen defined to comprise County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) and the sixNorthern Ireland (NI) local authority areas corresponding to Coleraine BoroughCouncil, Limavady Borough Council, Derry City Council, Strabane District Council,Omagh District Council and Fermanagh District Council.2. Overview, Vision and the Role of Higher EducationWhile the NWGSA Region has traditionally suffered from geographic and economicisolation in relation to the rest of the island of Ireland, some encouraging socioeconomicdevelopments have been occurring over recent years to which Ulster andLYIT have contributed significantly. These include population growth and thepresence of innovative firms.Other positive socio-economic characteristics include a large level of population –with 500,000 residents the NWGSA Region is one of the most populous regions in theisland of Ireland. It includes the linked ‘Letterkenny-Derry’ Gateway under the IrishNational Spatial Strategy (NSS) (2002-2020) and Derry has been identified as a majorregional city for the North West (including Donegal) in Shaping Our Future, theRegional Development Strategy for NI (which runs to 2025). The Letterkenny-DerryGateway is the largest linked gateway, and the only cross-border gateway, in theNSS.With a combined population of over 125,000 persons in 2006, the Letterkenny-DerryGateway is the fourth largest urban centre in the island of Ireland (after Dublin,Belfast and Cork) and it grew strongly by 3.3% between 2002 and 2006 (in contrast,the population of Greater Belfast contracted during this period). Further,Letterkenny has been the fastest growing urban centre in RoI with a higher educationinstitution (HEI) (2002-2006).Telecommunications infrastructure in the Letterkenny-Derry Gateway (includinghigh-speed broadband) is being enhanced and transport infrastructure across (andwithin) the NWGSA Region has witnessed significant improvements in recent years,facilitating improved access between the region and other parts of the island ofIreland (as well as within the region). The region also benefits from two airports, onein the west (at Carrickfinn in the Donegal Gaeltacht) and one in the east (at Eglington,County Londonderry) and both facilitate international as well as national access tothe region.Indecon and London Economics March 2009 Page 1
North West Gateway Strategic Alliance (NWGSA) Scoping StudyIn our ‘vision’ for the NWGSA Region, we anticipate higher levels of educationalattainment among residents and a greater emphasis on knowledge-based activities,including higher-order functions such as business development and innovation. Wealso envisage the region will become more attractive for high value added activitiessuch as internationally-traded services (including software development andbusiness services) by virtue of continuing to be a cost competitive location.The NWGSA Region will also continue to benefit from a high quality of life and,together with its other comparative economic strengths, could become an even moreattractive location for people to live, work and study, including those born in theregion but who have spent their working lives to date elsewhere (for examplebecause they undertook their third-level studies outside the region and/or emigratedfrom the region to find employment).A key requirement in helping to realise this ambitious vision for the NWGSA Regionover the next decade (notwithstanding the currently very challenging economicclimate) is the need to boost the provision of HE in both parts of the region. Theanalysis presented in the Scoping Study reveals that LYIT and Ulster have played asignificant role in the positive developments underway in the NWGSA Region andthese include growth in course development (despite a more challenging marketenvironment in the form of an absence of growth in the number of residents aged 15-24 years in the NWGSA Region during 1996-2006) and support to local business andindustry in the form of mentoring and collaborative R&D.However, our analysis also indicates that there is need to further augment HEprovision in the NWGSA Region. This finding comes across very clearly in both ourquantitative analysis of existing data and in the new primary research evidencegained from our internal and external stakeholder consultations in the NWGSARegion.In particular, despite the gains of recent years, educational attainment in the regionremains low in comparison with elsewhere in the island of Ireland and the level ofHE course provision (on a per capita basis) is also relatively low. For example, whilethe population of the NWGSA Region has grown more rapidly than that of GreaterBelfast during 2002-2006, the degree of HE course provision (per head of population)is much higher in Greater Belfast. In fact, among all the comparator regionsconsidered in the Scoping Study, including the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), RoI andNI as well as Greater Belfast, the NWGSA Region is found to have the lowestestimated density of HE provision (as well as having the lowest level of highereducational attainment).Central to achieving the vision outlined above is the need to build on the gains madeby LYIT and Ulster in recent years (which have helped to underpin the socioeconomicdevelopment of the NWGSA Region) and to further augment both the leveland quality of HE provision in the region so that it is at least on a par with elsewherein the island of Ireland. The importance of the need to boost HE in the region reflectsthe increasing weight placed on encouraging the development of knowledge-basedactivities in the policy/strategy arena and we believe this is especially pertinent inthe case of the NWGSA Region.Indecon and London Economics March 2009 Page 2
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Scoping Study Final Report.. - Letterkenny Institute of Technology

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