Consistently topping the wish lists of a large proportion of third-level applicants, DIT has one of the biggest student populations in the State. Its graduates are well regarded by employers.

Yet it's something of an anomaly in Ireland's third-level system, sitting uneasily between the former regional technical colleges and the universities. DIT can award its own degrees, postgraduate degrees and honorary degrees, but also trains apprentices. It has its own statute, but little autonomy. The head of DIT is called the president rather than the director, as is the case in the other ITs.

DIT has argued strongly that it is a de facto university. However, a review group, which reported to the Minister for Education and Science in 1998, was of a different opinion. It concluded that there were serious arguments against the immediate establishment of DIT as a university. Concerns related to the maturity and cohesiveness of the institute, as well as the range and nature of postgraduate research provision.

Dr Brendan Goldsmith, the college president, says the reality is that many of the arguments against DIT becoming a university are political, stemming from "an old-fashioned attachment to the binary system and a confusion, perhaps, that if you're going to be a university, you must be a traditional one".

He says the oft-cited comparison with MIT, in Boston, is misleading and disingenuous. MIT is an "elite, research-led university of the very highest calibre" while DIT is a "mass education research-informed comprehensive university".

A better comparison might be made by looking Down Under, he says. "There have been some interesting experiments in Australia in the past 10 years, for instance RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University)." So, DIT could become DIT University, retaining its apprenticeships while continuing to provide education to PhD level.

DIT consists of seven faculties, spread across colleges north and south of the Liffey: applied arts, the built environment, business, engineering, science, tourism and food. For students, their experience is likely to be an intimate one, centred on one building.

DIT students union president Marguerite Fitzpatrick says "graduates are more likely to say I went to college in Kevin Street or Bolton Street than in DIT".

A graduate of Bolton Street, Fitzpatrick has surprisingly little of a negative nature to say about DIT. "A lot of my friends went to UCD or TCD, where they were in classes of 100 to 150. Many of them were very lonely. Our classes are usually between 30 and 50 students. It creates a wonderful atmosphere, very personal."

On the down side, she says there is no student bar, no student centre and no on-campus accommodation. The proposed move to Grangegorman would mean improved sports and social facilities and on-campus accommodation but, in the mean time, there's little point in lobbying, says Fitzpatrick, as there's simply no space to build.

For Goldsmith, DIT's biggest problem is the "complete and total lack of autonomy. Everything is still controlled by the Department of Education. We have the situation where decisions are being taken by officials of the Department - and people ask why we want to become a university."

In his recently-published book on the history of Irish education, Investing in People, Tony White notes that, eight years after the DIT was established, the faculty structure has still not been fully implemented, not least because of trade union resistance.

He writes: "The primary cause of the Institute's problems has to be that the senior management and faculty do not have the requisite authority to manage the institute. They refer back to the Department of Education and Science for all major (and many minor) matters ... DIT's facilities for students in relation to sport and various services are among the worst in the State."

While Goldsmith says research is a very significant part of what DIT does, the reality is that its research budget is very small compared to UCD - a similar- sized institution. Problems include difficulties with fund-raising, as well as long teaching hours for staff. There is no core money allocated for research in the grant from the Department.

There are no dedicated research buildings and the college does not have an extensive modern library. Many of the current buildings are outdated and awkward to adapt. Staff accommodation is very poor.

Against this, Goldsmith says he is proud of the staff who provide high-quality education and a personalised experience to students. "The mixture of trades, certificates, diplomas, degrees and postgraduate qualifications on offer is a reflection of the type of modern higher education that's needed. I don't believe this is a contrived grouping."

As for that elusive university status, White predicts that, in the long term, DIT will achieve that status, if only to remove an obvious anomaly.