Research: A new agreement on the education and training of health professionals has been signed between University College Cork and the Southern Health Board.
The memorandum of understanding covers a range of areas from undergraduate education to specialist training and research.
It represents a new departure in the way an Irish university and health authority recognise their interdependency.
Dean of the faculty of medicine and health at UCC, Prof Michael Murphy, said that while this kind of co-operation was the norm in many other countries, it was regarded as being years overdue in Ireland.
"This kind of approach is exactly what's needed if we are to get the most out of limited resources," he said.
He said the agreement would mean that the university could access good clinical training for its students and research opportunities for its staff.
The health board would benefit from the university's education and research, and new facilities being developed including a €45 million health sciences complex and a school of pharmacy, due to open next year.
Closer ties between the university and the health board have already led to more efficient procedures for joint clinical appointments between the two bodies.
Further proposals under consideration include an e-library service for the region and the establishment of a joint occupational therapy and speech and language therapy clinic on the site of UCC's new health sciences complex due to open in 2005.
The agreement covers medicine, dentistry, nursing, midwifery, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and pharmacy.