Posted 18 November 2011
UCD campus redevelopment supported by European Investment Bank
The European Investment Bank has agreed to fund redevelopments at University College Dublin as part of its engagement to support the knowledge economy in Ireland. The European Union’s long-term lending institution will provide €90m for the ongoing transformation of campus facilities.
The European Investment Bank loans for education projects support the establishment of the knowledge economy in the European Union, which is one of the Bank's key lending priorities.
Pictured far right: Dr Hugh Brady, UCD President, and Plutarchos Sakellaris, European Investment Bank Vice President, view aerial images of University College Dublin’s 133-hectare Belfield campus.
The majority of EIB financing in human capital goes towards tangible investment in buildings and equipment, but a growing proportion goes to other investment such as academic research.
Development of the UCD campus follows European efforts to increase investment in research and higher education, and will strengthen UCD’s role in an increasingly competitive academic environment. The ability to locate both industry and academia on the same campus will help increase links between the university and key Irish companies. The campus development combines refurbishment of existing award winning buildings and provision of new facilities.
The UCD Campus Development Plan 2010–2015 will make the campus more compact, concentrating related activities and separating academic and leisure functions. The overall redevelopment aims to consolidate and enhance this position of pre-eminence by providing future generations with a sustainable, healthy, and living campus.
“The European Investment Bank is committed to ensuring that world class education and research facilities can help future generations contribute to the European knowledge economy,” said Plutarchos Sakellaris European Investment Bank Vice President responsible for Ireland.
“Redevelopment of University College Dublin will benefit students studying on a modern, vibrant and sustainable campus and foster a greater contribution to Ireland and Europe as a whole,” he said.
”UCD is committed to playing the same leadership role for Ireland in a 21st century global context that it played for the new independent Ireland in the 20th century” said UCD President, Dr Hugh Brady.
“The cutting edge teaching, research and student support facilities which this partnership with the EIB will enable will ensure that UCD consolidates and enhances its position at the top table of European universities”.
Funding from the European Investment Bank will be used to develop six buildings including the second phase of UCD’s Science Centre, construction of a new School of Law and refurbishment and construction of student accommodation.
European Investment Bank
The European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union created by the Treaty of Rome in 1958. Its task is to contribute towards the integration and balanced development as well as the economic and social cohesion of the EU Member States by making long-term finance available for sound. Besides supporting projects in the EU, the EIB’s main lending priorities include financing investments in future Member States and EU partner countries.
University College Dublin
University College Dublin is Ireland’s largest university with approximately 25,000 students including almost 7,000 postgraduate and 5,000 international students. It offers the most comprehensive curriculum of any Irish university in pursuit of its threefold mission of teaching, research and innovation to the highest international standards.
It traces its origins back to the 19th century Catholic University of Ireland, whose first rector John Henry Newman produced the classic work The Idea of a University - one of the most enduring texts on the value of higher education and a source of inspiration for UCD’s current educational philosophy.
Alumni of the university include numerous Irish Presidents and Taoisigh (Prime Ministers) and generations of Irish business, professional, cultural and sporting leaders. Perhaps the best known of all its graduates is the writer James Joyce, who completed his Bachelor of Arts at the university in 1902.
(Produced by UCD University Relations)
