President Michael D Higgins was guest of honour at an event held in DIT on Bolton Street, Dublin, yesterday to mark the college’s centenary celebrations.
Mr Higgins toured the college, viewing photographs and artefacts on display in the college, where first classes were held in the 1911/1912 academic year. At the time the college was called Bolton Street Polytechnic.
The first courses were offered on a part-time basis and included mechanical engineering, building construction, and printing – all of which DIT offers today.
Dr Mike Murphy, director and dean of the DIT college of engineering and built environment, said Bolton Street’s graduates made, and continue to make, a significant impact in all areas of the built environment and engineering, in Ireland and abroad.
“We are very conscious that we must make as significant a contribution today as our predecessors made 100 years ago and indeed in each successive generation,” he said.