More recently it’s become Letterkenny Institute of Technology and, together with Galway-Mayo IT and IT Sligo, has formed a joint bid to merge and secure technological university status.

If approved, it is likely the new Connacht-Ulster Alliance university would be legally established in January 2022.

LYIT is celebrating its Golden Anniversary year, starting on Tuesday next, October 5, and culminating in June 2022. The year-long golden celebration honours LYIT’s rich history of inspiring, guiding, and transforming the lives of many while also honouring its ongoing transformation with new and innovative programmes.

The official opening of the College was marked by a front-page article in the ‘Derry People and Donegal News’ under the headline: ‘Letterkenny Regional Technical College opens with 170 students’.

The article noted that 85 students were taking part in post-Leaving certificate courses in science, engineering and business administration.

“They come from all over Donegal. Some are from as far away as Glencolmcille,” the report read.

A scholarship fund of £5,000 was provided to help residential and travelling scholarships.

On arrival at the College the students were welcomed by the College Principal, Dr Daniel O’Hare, who told them of the vital need for the first pupils of the Regional College to establish a sound tradition.

He stressed that while the teaching staff were young – the eldest was only 35 – discipline would be rigidly enforced. He also encouraged the new students to organise themselves into a Students’ Union.

There were fifteen teachers on the College staff. Head of the Science staff was Dr John Hines; Head of Business Department, Mr Ray Patten and the acting Head of Engineering Department was Dr John McConnell.

Dr O’Hare left in 1974 to become principal of Waterford RTC. In 1977 he became the founding President of NIHE Dublin, later DCU, retiring in 1999.

Today, there are more than 20,000 LYIT graduates serving their communities through education, social services, public and private management, and many other fields.

The young men and woman who have passed through the Port Road campus have combined their talents, experiences, and commitments with the guidance and vision of the College to build better communities and better lives.

The current President Paul Hannigan leads a team of 370 staff while there are almost 5,000 full-time and part-time students on campus in Letterkenny and Killybegs.

“This was a brand new project on a national level. Nobody knew how these things (RTCs) were going to work out. It was a real pioneering time for staff to come to Letterkenny.

“It was an education experiment but one which worked out really well in Letterkenny. So many other locations around the country would love to have facilities like we have here in both Letterkenny and Killybegs today,” Mr Hannigan said.

The LYIT President said that Letterkenny, as a town, has benefited significantly from the College over the past fifty years.

“The town is only going to get bigger and better with the technological university status coming down the line,” he said.

LYIT has expanded its footprint at the Port Road campus four-fold since 1971 as have the number of programmes and courses offered.

“We’re now developing programmes for people all over the world with more than 600 students, outside the full-time student cohort, taking part in online courses. It’s been a major development over the last few years and opens up the programme to people outside the region.

“We’re very proud of the face to face delivery of our under graduate programme but the online facility gives us the ability to spread that bit further,” Mr Hannigan said.

LYIT has also seen a large increase in its international student population in recent years.

“It’s not just the EU. They’re coming from all over the world. People want to come and study here. People before them have had good experiences and got jobs which is very positive for the College and its programmes,” he said.

The Port Road campus which greeted students in 1971 has changed beyond recognition while the Killybegs campus, which was set up in 1969, joined LYIT in 2007.

In 1979, part of the College moved to St Conal’s and they operated two sites until the early 2000s.

1998 saw the opening of the first extension to the College. Since then the sports field, sports hall and CoLab facilities have been developed while ambitious plans are in place to develop a 66-acre sports complex at Knocknamona.

Work on extending car parking facilities in ongoing across the main road from the Port Road campus while a new library building, staff offices and teaching areas on the Tesco side of the site has just gone to tender.

“So many of our graduates have become brilliant ambassadors for the college and for Donegal. They are all very proud of where they’ve come from and what they’ve achieved. It all began here for them and they’re not shy about saying that.

“With Covid we couldn’t plan too far ahead. On Tuesday next, we’ll just have a small, informal ceremony to mark the fiftieth anniversary but we would like to mark the golden jubilee properly and we’ll do that as the year progresses,” Mr Hannigan said.