Synopsis
The independent lobby organisation, the Derry University Group, explains why the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy minister Conor Murphy will find it extremely difficult to increase student numbers in the North West and restore regional economic balance, if he signs off on the December 2024 Magee expansion plan in its current form. A series of recommendations and solutions is offered, including: the introduction of top-level independent oversight, directly accountable to the Irish and British governments; a new North-South body to assist Magee expansion and harmonise all-island education strategy; academic and operational autonomy for Magee; and a lowering/waiving of fees for Magee students until a minimum total of 10,000 full-time students can be sustained.
Introduction
Minister Murphy has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to right a historic wrong and resolve one of Ireland’s longest-standing civil rights issues. In the absence of an independent oversight commission for Higher Education in Northern Ireland, such as exists everywhere else on these islands (and which has twice been recommended by the island’s leading experts in the Royal Irish Academy), the Derry University Group is asking the Minister to consider ten key questions which an independent scrutiny body would be asking about the latest Magee expansion plan.
QI. Why is there no independent oversight?
‘Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it’
An independent oversight group would challenge the Taskforce’s contention that it has no desire to look at past political events ‘to determine what is optimal for now’ (P76). While it would require a full public inquiry, and we would argue that one may still be necessary, to establish the full scale of political discrimination against Derry’s university sector since Lockwood, this is not the Taskforce’s remit.
The Taskforce is, however, specifically charged with delivering Magee expansion in the current political environment. Thus, its decision not to consider how the current political environment has been consistently preventing, restricting or delaying expansion over the past two decades, is a fatal error. The Taskforce’s failure to investigate ongoing process failures - or to establish independent scrutiny of the departments and agencies responsible for these ongoing process failures - dooms it to repeat those failures.
Since 2005, there have been at least four expansion plans for Magee, none of which has delivered on its commitments to the campus. In each case either Ulster University, the Department for the Economy, or another Stormont department has ensured that Belfast’s priorities must be met first and the Derry plan has been ignored, buried or targeted for failure. These include:
2006 – University of Ulster: A Seven-Year Review, 1998-2005. Chaired by Sir Graeme Davis, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, this was an external report which advocated growth in Magee, to act as a focal point for regeneration in Northern Ireland’s second city. It specifically warned UU against ‘overtrading’ at its other campuses. Within two years, UU had jettisoned the Davis Report and had begun aggressively ‘overtrading’ in Belfast, a move which was not dictated by either economic demand or necessity, nor by any academic justification. 2011 - The One Plan was actioned by the Office of the First Minster and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) and the Department of Social Development. A regional development plan for Derry managed by the urban regeneration company Ilex, it promised to deliver - and was predicated on achieving - 9,400 full-time students at Magee by 2020. Despite being billed as a landmark project and being mentioned in the Programme for Government, it failed to get any meaningful support from the NI Executive and petered out in 2015/6, eclipsed again by UU’s North Belfast
development. Its failure to deliver 9,400 full-time students at Magee by 2020 is meticulously chronicled in Garrett Hargan’s investigative history of the university saga, A Scandal in Plain Sight (Colmcille Press).
2016 - The Magee Expansion Taskforce plan was drawn up by Ulster University and Derry City & Strabane District Council. It promised an expanded Magee campus, which would see full-time student numbers rise to 9,400 by 2024. It was never adopted into the NI Executive’s
Programme for Government as the new UU Belfast campus was in serious financial trouble and took precedence. It was all but dead and forgotten within a year. It too did not deliver on its objective of 9,400 full-time students at Magee by 2024
2020 - New Decade New Approach. Often referred to as the New Decade New Deal agreement, it was published on January 9, 2020 by the British and Irish governments and promised 10,000 full-time students at Magee by 2030. Within one month, the Department for the Economy had given UU a £126 million bailout (since increased) to save its new campus in North Belfast from bankruptcy and told Derry representatives there was no funding left to develop Magee. It was recently confirmed (Belfast Telegraph 19/10/24) that UU still have to pay off £159m of a £174.3m loan to the Strategic Investment Board.
Recommendation:
The lack of independent oversight of the development of UU’s North Belfast campus proved to be a cardinal error which nearly bankrupted the university and caused generational repercussions for the NI Higher Education sector.
The Royal Irish Academy has twice now (2021, 2024) recommended an independent scrutiny commission to oversee the Higher Education sector in Northern Ireland, such as exists elsewhere in the islands. We believe this will assist both the Minister, who UU has stated is ‘on the hook’ to deliver Magee expansion, and the HE sector. It will manage the Magee expansion oversight, by overseeing the work of the Expansion Steering Group and by advising the Minister directly.
Furthermore, given the specific input of the Irish (€44.5m) and British governments in legislating for, and financing, Magee expansion as part of New Decade New Deal, it is remiss to exclude them from a principal oversight role. With specific regard to Magee, the governments must each be asked to nominate independent and reputable oversight commissioners (or Czars) with executive powers to direct and expedite the work of the Steering Group. They, along with the Minister, will have specific authority for the completion of the expansion, independent of internal political or departmental challenges and changes.
While they will remain essential contributors, neither the Strategic Investment Board nor the Department for the Economy can provide independent oversight of the Steering Group because of their conflicting interests and competing priorities.
QII. What happens if deadlines are not met?
The Taskforce report is predicated on the unchallenged assumption (P11) that it will ‘realistically’ take at least eight years to deliver ten thousand students at Magee i.e. 2032 ‘if progress is sustained at an optimal pace’.
Every previous deadline set for Magee expansion has been missed. In New Decade New Deal the two governments, and Stormont, committed to providing 10,000 full-time students by 2030.
Recommendation:
In the event that Magee does not have its guaranteed 10,000 full-time students in situ by 2030, UU will transfer any shortfall from its other campuses to the Derry campus, along with the necessary budgets, courses, faculties and departments to sustain these numbers. Going forward, UU will not be permitted to recruit any students to its other campuses until Magee’s numbers, guaranteed at a minimum of 10000 full-time, are first filled. An autonomous operational management team will be established to oversee Magee to ensure the campus’s operational independence in the face of UU/DfE conflicting interests and competing priorities.
QIII. How to ensure Magee remains on the cross-border development agenda?
Shared Island has contributed €44.5m towards development at Magee and yet has no representation on the expansion Taskforce nor any of the proposed new bodies.
Recommendation:
Magee expansion, as an integral part of the regeneration of the cross-border North West City Region, must be included by the Irish government in its updated National Development Plan 2040.
Shared Island will be asked to become a full member of the Expansion Steering Group and will be asked to advise the independent Oversight Czars and all relevant supervisory and planning bodies.
QIV. How to ensure the student numbers stipulated by UU are accurate?
The success of the expansion plan is predicated on securing 10,000 students at Magee by 2030. In its costings, the Taskforce has indicated (p29) what it will cost to grow student numbers from 5,700 to 10,000 by 2032.
The baseline figure of 5,700 is widely disputed as being considerably higher than the real figure and has been the subject of repeated Freedom of Information (FoI) requests from journalists attempting to ascertain the exact number of students attached to the campus.
There is a responsibility to the public purse to establish an accurate baseline of existing figures before finance is released. Within the past five years, UU has itself variously claimed on official documents to have 9,000 students at its Magee campus, and that there are 40,000 students in the North West. In short, their figures have little or no credibility.
Moreover, there is no mention of full-time or ‘full-time equivalent’ figures in the Taskforce’s targets, despite the governments’ commitment to have 10,000 full-time students in place by 2030.
Recommendation:
An external audit will be conducted immediately, under the supervision of the independent Oversight Czars, to ascertain the official number of full-time students currently attending Magee.
This number will exclude all part-time students, online students, students on work placement, and students registered full-time at other institutions whose courses may have affiliations with UU (and have previously been included in the UU tallies). It will also exclude students who, while principally registered at Magee, are required to study at other UU campuses, online or at other locations.
The Taskforce will specify that its commitment to Magee is to secure 10,000 full-time students by 2030 and that its figures will be independently audited by the Oversight Czars on an annual basis.
UU and DfE will engage with and reply to any FoI requests regarding student numbers at any UU campus.
QV. How to ensure Magee can grow numbers rapidly and sustainably?
The Taskforce’s report is more than 120 pages long, and seeks to commit hundreds of millions of pounds to campus and student accommodation infrastructure. But just ten pages are focused on academic development at the campus. A prospectus is being developed for private sector developers, yet no prospectus is proposed for prospective students.
Rather than Magee having a full suite of academic courses, such as are on offer at Queens or any of the National University of Ireland constituent universities in the South, it is only permitted to offer a limited subsection of UU’s wide curriculum. It is a subordinate subset rather than a federated equal. More than 140 courses were cut at Magee campus between 2010 and 2015, many moved to other campuses.
Moreover, Magee’s academic offer remains controlled centrally by UU, which has conflicting interests and competing priorities. Despite acknowledging the institutional inequality and political discrimination which blocked the expansion of Magee and led to the rapid growth of Coleraine and North Belfast, the Taskforce is not recommending the downsizing of other UU campuses. No costings are being proposed for academic development at Magee.
Recommendation:
All fees for EU/UK students studying at Magee will be reduced significantly relative to Belfast, or waived completely, and students will be able to access an increased student support package, until the campus can sustain 10,000 full-time places. Fees at Magee can at no stage be higher than those of its closest university neighbour Atlantic Technological University, which has a campus in Letterkenny, less than half an hour away. Magee will remain protected from any new NI university funding models, such as increased fees.
An autonomous academic management team, with support from the Royal Irish Academy and Derry/Strabane and Donegal councils, and under the supervision of the independent Oversight Czars, will be established to ensure Magee’s academic independence and ensure it remains unrestricted by UU’s conflicting interests and competing priorities.
A Director of Magee Academic Expansion will be appointed alongside the recently-appointed Director of Magee Operational Expansion.
Magee will develop its own full prospectus, including a range of joint cross-border programmes in association with the Atlantic Technological University and other HE providers and will explore affiliation to the NUI as an autonomous constituent institution or be developed as an autonomous cross-border university of the North West.
QVI. Is Derry/Strabane Council to become subordinate to the Magee ‘masterplan’?
Derry/Strabane Council, via the City Deal, will become one of the principal investors in Magee expansion.
UU, on countless previous occasions, has broken commitments to the Council, which has always regarded Magee as the lynchpin of its regional development strategy. The Taskforce plan envisages Derry/Strabane Council gifting its substantial office block on the riverbank to UU for development. The proposed new Magee sports dome will also have a displacement impact on the Council’s own sports complex at Templemore, less than a mile away.
Council is also being tasked with a massive planning responsibility as UU seeks to build thousands of units of new student accommodation. The planning legislation, which governs development, must be respected and complied with.
Council is missing an opportunity to best serve the public interest by allowing student accommodation to remain the preserve of private developers. There are considerable, generational revenue-raising benefits to be accrued via the public sector ownership of student accommodation. Council will also be tasked with ensuring that private developers are subject to transparency, accountability and scrutiny.
Residents in the university area have made representations to Council that it is already exceeding the agreed quota of inner-city HMOs. Residents have already been adversely and severely impacted by the overdevelopment and intensification of HMOs in the Magee Conservation Area adjacent to the university. Residential parking is at crisis levels.
The Taskforce plan does not specify how Magee will cater for the parking needs of 10,000 full-time students - and it is suggested that this will fall to the Council.
A new cross-border multi-site campus, as advocated by the University of Edinburgh School of Architecture (A Scandal in Plain Sight, Hargan, Colmcille Press 2024), would help alleviate overdevelopment and parking issues.
Page 34 of the Taskforce report states that detail on the wider development projects being brought forward across the city ‘should be integrated with the Magee masterplan’ to provide a city development programme.
Recommendation:
Derry/Strabane Council representatives will sit on the Steering Group and all internal Magee development committees. Representatives will also be full partners on the autonomous Magee operational management team, and the autonomous Magee academic management team. Council shall receive direct additional support from DfE and the two governments to support its new responsibilities.
Council shall investigate becoming a student accommodation provider and how to involve and support other public sector providers.
Council shall identify new student accommodation sites outside of residential city-centre areas and prioritise these developments over city-centre HMOs.
Council shall implement its existing 2032 Local Development Plan without further delay and with vigour.
Council shall seek for the Magee expansion to be incorporated into the island’s National Development Plan 2040.
QVII. Why is Stranmillis undertaking research on what would attract students to Derry?
DfE, apparently without open tender, has appointed Stranmillis College in Belfast to undertake research to identify ‘evidence-based incentives’ which would attract students to Magee. Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Sligo, Letterkenny and the smaller university towns in the South are all skilled at attracting students, so much so they are experiencing surges in student numbers and accommodation problems. Why were they not considered for this assignment?
Recommendation:
Research to be conducted across the island to identify ‘evidence-based incentives’ to attract students to Magee.
QVIII. Is INCORE to be headquartered at Magee?
UU’s strategy for course development has been described by academics as one of ‘incubate, replicate and eradicate’. To wit, over the past two decades, numerous courses have been developed and tested at Magee before being rolled out on UU’s other campuses and then cut from the schedules at Magee.
In 2017, INCORE, a uniquely Derry institution, founded and based in the city and championed by Nobel laureate John Hume, was, without consultation, moved out of the city to Belfast, sparking political fallout and front-page headlines in newspapers. UU, after years of internal and external lobbying, has now announced a number of new INCORE courses will return to Magee. UU has, however, indicated that it intends to retain INCORE faculty and staff in Belfast despite QUB having established a strong programme of teaching and research in peace-related areas. UU is providing duplication in this area in Belfast while neglecting its historic, established niche in this area at Magee with the support of Bill and Hilary Clinton, Tip O’Neill, Kofi Annan and others.
Recommendation:
UU returns INCORE in its entirety - budgets, programmes and staff - to Derry.
QIX. Is Magee over-dependent on the Department of Health?
DoH commissioned courses (P48) are expected to constitute 30% of the additional student places needed to reach the target of 10,000 full-time students at Magee. Previous health ministers have threatened to block funding and places at Magee.
In its risk register (P123), the Taskforce has identified ‘change of political priorities’ as a ‘Critical’ risk noting the ‘different political aspirations’ of the Stormont Executive parties. Up until the current Minister’s appointment in 2024, the DfE has not prioritised Magee expansion in a meaningful way.
Recommendation:
The Magee expansion cannot be dependent on Stormont. The two governments, via the independent Oversight Czars, will, along with the sitting Minister, have specific authority for the completion of the expansion, independent of internal political or departmental challenges and changes.
QX. Has there been adequate Taskforce engagement with the Irish government?
One of the most striking aspects of the report is the lack of input from the Southern government and the limited ambition for North-South collaboration at a campus which is located within a few miles of the North-South border. Indeed the lack of emphasis on parallel developments south of the border and their impact on and opportunities for Magee are noteworthy in what is a NI-centric report.
The Shared Island funding (€44.5m) - the biggest single injection in Magee in a decade - has been noted and has been widely celebrated as a victory by UU, but without any suggestion as to how UU will account to the funders or take due account of the wider all-island context. There will have to be safeguards in place to ensure this funding is spent in its entirety at Magee. Furthermore, if this investment is not to be a one-off, it will necessitate high levels of transparency, accountability and scrutiny.
There are no Irish representatives on the Steering Group nor the committees, despite the fact that the Taskforce says it hopes to approach the Irish government for further funding in the coming years.
The two ground-breaking reports by the Royal Irish Academy on northwest Ireland, the second of which was funded by the Shared Island fund and informed so much recent public discourse on Magee expansion, have been ignored entirely.
The decision to exclude the RIA and other voices critical of past failures from the Taskforce allowed UU to ignore expert advice on Magee which conflicted with its own priorities and was a cardinal error.
Recommendation:
A new North-South body will be established under the Good Friday Agreement (the facilities to do this exist) to ensure Irish government oversight of all matters regarding Magee. This body will also collaborate on a broader strategy of harmonising education policy at all levels on an all-island basis.
ENDS
Published by the Derry University Group
December 20, 2024