Speech by Dr Michael P. Mortell,
President, The National University of Ireland,
at the Conferring of Engineering Degrees and Diplomas Tuesday, 22 July, 1997 at 10.00 a.m.

I want to congratulate all the graduates, with primary degrees or higher degrees, in engineering. I give a particular word of welcome to the graduates in Food Process Engineering - the first cohort of engineering graduates in this very important area. The Food industry is Ireland's largest indigenous industry. It is an industry which has been fuelled by the graduates of this university - especially from the Faculty of Food Science and Technology. Now it is entirely appropriate that the process engineering of foods be taken as a subject of study in itself and within the Engineering Faculty.

We in UCC have the strategic objective of expanding the number of undergraduates and postgraduates in the Engineering Faculty. Engineers were never in greater demand then they are now - but that is not the reason. We are in an Information Age, a Knowledge Age. The major long term competitive advantage that Ireland has is a highly educated and flexible workforce. Engineering, both as infrastructure and manufacturing, is essential in such an age. Whatever about the ups and downs of various business cycles there is always, in the long term, a need for engineers.

The university sector has an essential role in providing the graduates which the industrial sector needs to continue to fuel the development of our economy. There is now what Paddy Galvin, speaking on behalf of IBEC, called "an extraordinary symbiotic relationship" between universities and industry, and thus the creation of wealth and employment for our people.

Our strategic objective is also tied in to the developmental needs of this region. It is essential that UCC produce a sufficient number of the right mix of graduates to create a pool of expertise which will not only sustain the industry that is here in this region, but will also attract further industry.

If we observe where the majority of industry, - software, fabrication, - sets up, it is in the Dublin region. This concentration of high-tech industry in the Dublin area will suck the lifeblood from the regions, unless we actively work to develop our own region. So UCC has to create the pool of graduates in this region to make it attractive for the high-tech industries to keep coming in here. The announcement that Seagate was setting up in Cork was a major breakthrough. Many of the jobs there are for engineering graduates. EMC is a very successful company in Ballincollig which employs a large number of UCC graduates. EMC and Seagate complement each other. We have companies like Apple, General Instrument, Bourn's - all these need engineers.

We need to attract more such reinforcing companies to get a critical mass of the electronics and software industry into this area. The critical element in this developmental process is the production of a sufficient number of engineers and graduates of other disciplines.

The Government are about to embark on a Skills Initiative; but this seems to be concentrating on the software industry - a very important industry. But we cannot ignore the needs of the manufacturing side. Therefore, it is imperative to include electrical engineering in the skills initiative. These are the kinds of skills we need in this region to support Seagate and others.

Finally, I want to say a few words about research. Research is an essential characteristic of a university. It is the involvement with research that keeps our staff at the forefront of their fields. Graduates students are an essential element in the research activity. They play a two-fold role: they take part in the research activity of the staff member and help to move forward the overall question under investigation, and then help to complete larger projects. At the same time they are learning how to do research; they are adding to their own intellectual capacity and acquiring knowledge and expertise. So it is a win-win situation for staff member and student.

It is essential for the long term health of the university that some of our best students remain on to do research and eventually join the university. The university is the seed corn of everything; and only the university can replenish itself- unlike other enterprises which get their sustenance from outside.

For those of you who have deep intellectual interest in the fundamentals of the physical world, who like to analyse and propose solutions to difficult problems, who have an inventive nature, you should consider, despite the relatively slight monetary compensation, the attractions of university life. For

"if the salt shall lose its savour wherewith shall we be salted?