TRINITY COLLEGE Dublin (TCD) plans to increase student numbers by 15 per cent and widen access for poorer students, according to its new strategic plan.
Trinity says the 2009-14 plan is designed to establish its position as one of the leading universities “which shape our world”.
Trinity has climbed six places to 43 in the latest Times Higher Education/QS World University Rankings. It is ranked as the 13th best university in Europe. The strategic plans sets out ambitious targets.
Trinity’s plan to boost student numbers to 18,000 is a surprise, given the funding crisis across the university sector. It also plans to recruit 40 additional academic staff and maintain its staff-student ratio at current levels.
To fund these plans, the college says it will need to expand its resource base. Provost Dr John Hegarty said the college hoped increased philanthropy, more international students and greater commercial activity would fund the expansion.
The new plan envisages a doubling of non-EU postgraduate students and a significant increase in international students over the next five years.
Dr Hegarty said the funding crisis across higher education made it “inevitable” that the issue of student loans would be revisited by the Government before long.
The university hopes 22 per cent of admissions will be from under-represented groups by 2014, provided a series of promised Government supports are rolled out. At present, about 15 per cent of the student body come from under-represented groups.
Vice provost Dr Patrick Prendergast says this refutes the perception among some of TCD as an “elite” institution.
The strategic plan also identifies the TCD/UCD innovation alliance as a key driver of research activity. Dr Hegarty has claimed the alliance will help to generate 30,000 jobs over the next decade.
Other main features of the plan include introducing a college-wide online teaching evaluation system; and introducing initiatives to enhance the overall student experience, particularly that of international students and students from non-traditional backgrounds.
The plan also aime to increase the rate of campus company formation and engaging more effectively with enterprise and establish a new Trinity academic medical centre with affiliated hospitals.
There are also plans for a biosciences institute, a Trinity Long Room hub for the humanities and a new student centre; getting planning permission for a social sciences institute and an institute of preventative medicine at Tallaght hospital; consolidating engineering and natural sciences, and creating new student accommodation.
