Dundalk Institute of Technology

History

In 2002 DkIT took possession of the adjoining PJ Carroll Tobacco Factory. By 2005 partial development took place in the Carroll's site with Plumbing and Electrical Trades Workshops relocated there and the opening of a "Bright Room" digital media editing suite. Refurbishment of 11,500 square metres of the PJ Carroll Building was completed by 2010, and the School of Informatics and Creative Arts took up full-time residence there. The Building was officially opened on 11 February 2011 by the then An Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen TD who stated that "the completion of a €38m capital investment at the Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) campus represents a vote of confidence in the Institute’s future and will help further strengthen its capacity to drive economic regeneration in the northeast".

In 2005 a building for the newly introduced Nursing and Health studies was opened. In 2005 also, DkIT became one of the first urban locations to have an industrial standard wind turbine (850 kW) installed. It is the first large wind turbine in the world to be constructed on the campus of a third level institution.

The institution was one of the original network of Regional Technical Colleges set up in the 1970s with an emphasis on business, engineering and science. Over the past decade and a half, the Institute has expanded its range of programmes to include hospitality, humanities, music, creative arts and nursing. Apprenticeship courses have long been a feature of the Institute, there has been continual expansion in the Apprenticeship provisioning the electrical and plumbing fields.

Schools

The Institute has four Schools, with each one consisting of a number of departments with a wide range of programmes on offer. Additionally, yaaas the Lifelong Learning Centre offers many part-time study options and there are also many apprenticeship options on offer, through the School of Engineering.

The four schools at DkIT are:

Mr Denis Cummins has been President of the Institute since 2006. The previous presidents/directors/principals have been Dr Seán McDonagh, Mr Denis Murphy (acting), Mr Gerry Carroll (acting) and Dr Tom Collins.The Chairman of the Board of Govornors since 2011 is Mr. Andrew Griffith he succeeded Ms. Joanna Gardiner and Mr. Clifford Kelly.

DkIT currently awaits with great interest the implementation of the recent Hunt Report as the Institute determines the optimum pathway towards its future re-designation as a 'Technological University'.

Library

The Library at DkIT Institute of Technology (DkIT) is located in the Dr T.K. Whitaker building. The facility provides learning and research support to 5,000 + students and staff with 400 study spaces, over 50,000 books and journals and access to a range of online databases.

There are 100 PCs for project and research work as well as wireless internet access on two floors. The Library’s collection is mainly academic to support DkIT’s undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. There is also an eclectic fiction collection as well as films on DVD and music CDs.

The Library building was named after Dr. Whitaker in recognition of his contribution to the Irish economy. Books donated by him are available for consultation in the TK Whitaker collection.

Lifelong Learning Centre

The Lifelong Learning Centre at Dundalk Institute of Technology is a resource for the whole community of the Northeast, offering a range of opportunities for people to help with their career development or their personal growth and developing skills, or to help the need for learning for its own sake. Their range of academic and other learning opportunities not only includes dozens of courses, which have proved their popularity over the years, but also introduces some new choices reflecting our requirement to adapt to the changing educational and training needs of a dynamic society.

With the recent economic climate, the Lifelong Learning Centre has had a huge increase in applications for night classes.

Regional Development Centre

Established in 1989 by Dundalk Institute of Technology, the Regional Development Centre acts as the Institute’s Innovation Support and Technology Transfer organisation. The Centre acts as a commercially oriented interface between DKIT and the industrial, commercial and business life of the region, and makes available the expertise, facilities and resources of the Institute for the wider benefit of the regional economy.

Through the Research and Developmental endeavours of its Academic Staff, DKIT has developed a strong applied R&D reputation in Software Development, Electronics and Engineering Design, Applied Humanities, Cultural Studies and Enterprise Development & Innovation with a new and emerging area in the field of Renewable Energy and Digital Media. The evolution of this range of Research expertise has a direct bearing on new course development, on staff development and on the relevance of graduate provision to the skills needs of the Regional and National economy.

The Centre achieves this through the following range of programmes and activities:

The DkIT Regional Development Centre has been awarded the ISO 9001-2000 Quality Standard.

Research at DkIT

The Sunday Times Higher Education analysis places the Institute as the top research income performer in the IoT sector and is a measure of the calibre of research activity being undertaken and the success of the Institute's Research Strategy over the last number of years.

Researchers within the Institute carry out internationally recognised research within several key thematic areas from across its four academic schools.

These thematic areas include Ageing and Health, Informatics and the Environment, Creative Media, Music and Entrepreneurship, with the emerging area of nanoscience being explored as a potential growth area. To this end several key research centres and groups have been established on campus which possess the required critical mass to impact upon the region, and the national and international stages.

The Institute has always recognised the need to sustain and develop this research base within its schools, of both the basic and applied nature, with a strong emphasis on research commercialisation and technology transfer.

DkIT is home to the Ion Channel Biotechnology Centre [1] (ICBC). The ICBC is an Applied Research Enhancement Centre established by core funding from Enterprise Ireland. It is one of three ARE Centres in the Bio Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical cluster. The other two ARE Centres in this cluster include the Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre based in the Institute of Technology, Tralee and Limerick Institute of Technology and the Pharmaceutical & Molecular Biotechnology Research Centre [2] (PMBRC), based in Waterford Institute of Technology.

Irish Language Scheme

The Institute's Irish Language Scheme, the first of a series of three-year schemes under An Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla (The Official Languages Act) 2003, came into effect on 18 October 2010. The Institute has established Oifig na Gaeilge to aid in the implementation of the scheme and to coordinate a range of activities promoting the use of Irish within the Institute. This office opened on a part-time basis at the start of 2011 and is based in the PJ Carroll Building (Limistéar Oifigí 1, Oifig P1167).

Alumni Association

In October 2010 the Institute decided to "reboot" the Alumni Association ahead of the 40th Anniversary of the college (2011). The new site at http://alumni.dkit.ie invites former students to register with the site and be able to connect with other graduates much in the way Facebook "friends" operates. In this instance, connections are known as "classmates". The site will also be used to notify alumni of upcoming events and reunions.