THE expansion of veterinary medicine at Donegal ATU has been welcomed as “transformative” for the North West.
The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue TD, have confirmed that a number of options to expand third level places for healthcare and veterinary medicine are being considered.
The options include potential for a new programme of Veterinary Medicine to be delivered from ATU Donegal in conjunction with ATU Mountbellew.
It is believed the new courses will be carried out in the Letterkenny campus, where veterinary nursing is already offered.
The potential programme in Veterinary Medicine would complement current offerings in Veterinary Nursing and Agriculture in the Donegal campus and Agriculture provision in the Mountbellew (Co Galway) campus.
These programmes could commence delivery in the academic year 2025/26, pending Government funding.
Dr Joanne Gallagher, Head of Faculty of Science and Health, ATU Donegal, says, “This news is very welcome and potentially transformative for the west and northwest region.
“Embedding Veterinary Medicine education, and the expansion of Nursing education provision in the regions, would lead to further opportunities for students to study in the region and support the sustainability of the professions,” said Dr Gallagher.
The other options being explored include a potential new Pharmacy programme in ATU Sligo, and additional General Nursing places in ATU Mayo, ATU Donegal and St Angela’s College Sligo pending Government funding.
The potential additional General Nursing places would represent a significant expansion of current programme provision to address the shortfall in the number of qualified graduates in the nursing profession.
These places could become available for the academic year 2024/5, pending Government funding.
The announcement signifies a significant expansion in healthcare and veterinary medicine training which would result in an increase of an estimated 5,000 new third-level enrolments across Veterinary, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Medicine and Nursing.
ATU President Dr Orla Flynn welcomed the announcement: “I am naturally delighted with today’s news – it is a strong signal of confidence in ATU’s capability and capacity to deliver these programmes.
“Our ability to respond to this call as one university has led to this success – we now need to make sure that we deliver on this potential for our region.
“I also want to salute our teams across ATU who have worked on these bids, their efforts have been rewarded today,” said Dr Flynn.
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