South East Technological University launched its first Strategic Plan in 2023, Connecting for Impact 2023-2028. The plan establishes the priorities for the University for the coming five years and will guide the University in its activities, decision-making, its allocation of resources, programmes of study, research and engagement activities.
SETU builds on five decades’ of high performance by two Institutes of Technology. Nonetheless, addressing the needs within the region requires a significant “state change” in organisational capacity and capability. The Strategic Plan will identify the pathways towards this “state change”.
The University seeks over the coming period to deepen its impact on regional society and the economy through increased high-quality research and innovation activity. In doing so, it will aim to increase the knowledge capital of the south east of Ireland. It will focus the application of the knowledge it creates to drive the social and economic development of the region in domains of regional specialism and high impact. The plan also responds to the need within the region for the scaling up of quality education provision in the region, with a focus on increasing the level of educational attainment amongst the population, addressing the outward migration of talent from the region, and increasing the flow of students into the south east.
SETU is cognisant of the need to recast the student experience in the light of technological change and rapidly changing employment patterns and career pathways. The University will promote access and flexibility in designing and delivering programmes and will direct its efforts in particular towards answering the skills and human capital development needs of regional society and the economy. The University will seek to create and sustain meaningful European and global partnerships that drive regional attractiveness to talent and investment through involvement in high-quality international teaching, research and professional networks, through attracting international funding, and through enabling inward and outward international mobility for staff and students.
Connecting for Impact takes on these challenges and opens up new and exciting opportunities for staff, students, and communities within and outside the region.
Strategy Office contact
E: [email protected]
T: +353 51 83 4179
South East Technological University
College Street Campus
College Street
Waterford
X91 Y074
Regional Development Policies:
The creation of a large-scale, high performing university in the South East has been central to regional economic development policy in the recent past. SETU is seen in particular as making an important contribution to realising the ambitions for the region that are set out in Project Ireland 2040 and associated regional policies. The following policies and plans all strongly endorse the creation of a university in the region and outline the expectations of the university with regard to its contribution to regional development:
Southern Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES)
South East Regional Enterprise Plan to 2024
Other relevant policies include Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025 which is of particular relevance to the South East, and the various county development plans either published or in development.
Higher Education Policy:
Technological Universities appear first as an element in national higher education strategy in 2011 in the so-called "Hunt" Report, the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030. The legislation that allowed for the creation of Technological Universities was passed in 2018, the Technological Universities Act. The Act sets out in detail the functions of the TU. A key document that sought to conceptualise in more detail the TU proposition is the report of the Technological Universities Research Network (TURN), Connectedness and Collaboration through Connectivity, published in 2019.
The HEA maintains an extensive repository of documentation relating to the establishment of the various Technological Universities across the country, including SETU. The application from SETU for designation will be of particular interest.
For more general thinking on the future direction, challenges and opportunities for higher education in Europe, see the European University Association publication, "Universities without Walls" (February 2021).
Planning Documents and Files:
Structures in Support of Planning: The most recent version of this document (available here) describes the managment and governance arrangements for the strategic planning process at SETU.
Staff Webinar: On 21 September 2022 the President of SETU launched a consultation on the Strategic Plan with an overview briefing to the SETU community on the process and timelines. You may access a recording of the webinar here.
Staff Town-Hall Slide-deck: The slides from the presentation at the staff town hall meetings is available here.