UCD announces €350 million loan to facilitate huge expansion in student numbers

University College Dublin (UCD) is to expand its student population with the aid of a €350 million loan facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

UCD plans to increase faculty numbers by 50 per cent and student numbers by 25 per cent over the coming decade.EIB president Dr Werner Hoyer will visit the college on Friday to announce the loan facility which will support capital development projects on campus.

The €1 billion campus development will be sourced from the EIB facility and also from philanthropy, increased student numbers, loans and Government grants.

The new Centre for Creativity will relocate the architecture department and consolidate the engineering department with new studios and creative teaching suites.

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The new Centre for Future Learning will be available for all UCD colleges for lectures, tutorials and meeting rooms.

There will also be a third extension to the O’Brien Centre for Science bringing the facility up to 66,000 square metres.

The Newman building which houses arts, humanities, social sciences and the James Joyce Library will be completely refurbished.

Deputy president of UCD Professor Mark Rogers said the university cannot target more students until it increases its facilities.

“To ensure that we have the facilities in place to accommodate the targeted increases in student and employee numbers, we must provide additional academic as well as sport and student amenities spaces,” he said.

“The funding facility provided by the EIB gives us the opportunity to achieve this objective.”

The loan facility has been approved by the University Governing Authority and each of the projects is brought before the authority before construction.

Planning permission for the Centre for Creativity and the Centre for Future Learning has been granted and the initial work for the buildings has started.