Resolution on Parity and Equity for Technological Universities in Ireland

The Technological Universities Act 2018 (TU Act 2018) establishes Technological Universities (TUs) in Ireland as fully recognised public universities, granting them corporate autonomy, degree-awarding powers from Levels 6 to 10 of the National Framework of Qualifications, and statutory rights equivalent to those conferred on universities under the Universities Act 1997.

While the TU Act 2018 provides for equal legal status between Technological Universities and traditional universities, the Irish State has not implemented the operational frameworks required to realise these rights in practice. As a result, statutory equality has not translated into functional equality, and TUs remain unable to exercise core institutional rights that traditional universities have long utilised.

The TU Act 2018 explicitly provides TUs with the legal authority to borrow funds for capital development, contingent on a government-approved Borrowing Framework, a mechanism which, six years after enactment, has not been implemented. Which has and continues to prevent TUs from exercising core legislative rights and undermines the Act’s intended policy outcomes.

Despite being declared as universities within Irish law, no Technological University nor any of the former Institutes of Technology has ever received public capital funding from the State to construct student accommodation, in stark contrast to long-established universities that historically benefitted from substantial state capital investment.

Although the TU Act 2018 provides TUs with equal statutory standing, the lack of implementation of key enabling mechanisms has resulted in a significant divergence between legal equality and functional equality, creating a two-tier university landscape.

All Students’ Unions across Ireland’s Technological Universities mobilised in 2025 to highlight systemic underfunding, infrastructural deficits, research capacity limitations, and an emerging inequitable division between TUs and long-established universities.

Parity of status across diversified higher-education institutions is an established and widely implemented norm within the European Higher Education Area. Numerous member states maintain university systems comprising institutions with differing missions, historical origins, and academic profiles, yet governed under uniform statutory frameworks and availing of equivalent state support. Models such as France’s Établissements publics à caractère scientifique, culturel et professionnel (EPSCP) demonstrate that differentiated institutional forms can operate within a coherent, non-hierarchical legal and governance architecture, in which diversity of function does not preclude equality of standing, recognition, or state support.

The emergence of a two-tier university landscape within Ireland’s Higher Education system reflects an act of political impotence rather than an unavoidable development; it is the direct result of incomplete implementation of statutory provisions, non-fulfilment of government commitments, and sustained structural underinvestment.

Regional equity is a core principle of the European Higher Education Area. Chronic under-investment in the TU sector disproportionately affects students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, who are represented in significantly higher numbers within the TU sector due to being traditionally in underserved regions. This undermines Ireland’s commitments to equitable access, widened participation, and balanced regional development.

Students enrolled in Technological Universities must not be relegated to a structurally inferior university experience within Irish Higher Education due to political delays, incomplete implementation of legislation, or discriminatory funding patterns.

With the united voice of European students, ESU and AMLÉ call for Ireland to:

• Immediately implement the borrowing framework mandated by the Technological Universities Act 2018, enabling TUs to access capital financing for the construction of student accommodation and critical campus infrastructure.
• For an increase in Doctorate Stipend funding, ensuring payment of the full €25,000 research stipend, as previously promised and announced by the central Government.
• Full implementation and resourcing of Professorships within the Technological University sector
• ⁠Increased funding for courses taught through the medium of Irish, along with amendments to the Technological Universities Act to include explicit references and commitments to Irish-medium education, mirroring those already present in the Universities Act.