Dr Michael Mortell - Degrees and Diplomas - 18th October 1996

Speech by Dr Michael Mortell,
President, University College, Cork
at the Conferring of Degrees and Diplomas, Friday, 18 October, 1996.

I think it might be useful to give you an overview of UCC as it is today, and also to locate UCC, and universities generally, in a modern economy.

We now have a total of 10,500 students in UCC - we passed the 10,000 mark for our 150th anniversary last year in the State. This is essentially double the numbers we had just 10 years ago. We are now the second largest university institution.

Of these 10,500 students, nearly 20% are graduate students studying for higher degrees or postgraduate diplomas. Over this year I will have conferred in excess of 3,000 degrees and diplomas. To get a perspective on this: there was a total of 1,500 students in UCC when I was a student here 35 years ago - less than half the number of degrees and diplomas of today.

Yet in those days we could bring off the double and win a County Hurling and County Football Championship! And of course, I wish our Football team the best of luck on Sunday.

The annual budget of the College now exceeds � million per annum and rising rapidly.

During your time here, you will have experienced the larger numbers through more crowded classroom and laboratories. But also as a direct result of greater numbers you will have had the benefit of new Professors and new Lecturers, who bring with them new ideas and new energies which will have been of great benefit to you.

The other tangible result of these growing numbers is the ongoing physical development of the College. Castlewhite Apartments, the Food Science Building, the extension of Áras na Laoi, the Building on the Gaol Walk, the Student Centre, the UCC Granary Theatre, the extension to the National Microelectronics Research Centre, the Clinical Sciences Building at Cork University Hospital and the Business/Language Building currently under construction. The value of these capital projects is about � million, and is a major input into the local economy.

We expect to begin construction of a Sports Complex during this academic year.

The fact that nearly 20% of the student body is postgraduate students is a clear indication of research activity on this campus. Another indicator is the level of research publications, where UCC compares very favourably with other institutions in Ireland. A further measure of research activity, particularly in Science and Engineering, is the amount of research grant money which the staff of UCC earn. Last year our staff brought in the enormous sum of � million in research contract money. This is an increase of more than � million on the previous year, which was itself a record year. This is the largest amount of any university in Ireland.

UCC has secured 35% of the income to Ireland from the EU Fourth Framework Programme in the higher education sector, and 16% of the TOTAL income to Ireland from that Programme.

These figures give a clear indication of the quality of our staff at UCC, and of their commitment and dedication. I take this opportunity to congratulate each and every one of them.

Over a five year period the total amount of research money earned by UCC staff exceeds $60 million which directly supports more than 300 research jobs on campus. This is a research industry, medium in size, organically grown and indigenous within the walls of UCC.

This brings me to my last point. These researchers at UCC, many of whom have returned from abroad or come from abroad, have, among them, vast technical knowledge, training and experience. They are the critical core of the intellectual infrastructure of this country.

It has been said of the present time that "knowledge is the only meaningful resource". These researchers are the knowledge makers.

The thriving and expanding industries in Ireland today are predominantly knowledge based - eg Hewlett Packard, Intel, Schering Plough, etc. Many of the more traditional assembly or labour intensive industries are moving to the low cost environments such as parts of the Far East.

The employment growth of the future will be in the knowledge industries and the graduates of the universities are the feedstock for these industries. It is now becoming clear that the universities cannot produce enough graduates in these areas - electronics, computers, software, pharmaceuticals - to satisfy the needs of the industries which are now located in Ireland. This will militate against the expansion of these industries in Ireland, and certainly against our ability to attract further such industry.

There is a need for a focused investment by Government which involves equipment, buildings and staff if we are to expand the output of such graduates. This is an investment, not for the benefit of the universities, but to underpin economic well-being and employment into the next century.

University College Cork

Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh

College Road, Cork T12 K8AF

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