NUI Galway has drawn up a €400 million expansion and development plan, involving 20 large infrastructural projects on its 260-acre campus.
The plan, which will be unveiled today, also aims to turn the campus towards the river Corrib and develop the riverside environment. Sale of existing university property on Nun's Island in the city centre may be required to finance the ambitious scheme.
The university hopes to raise the target sum of €400 million through State funding, college resources and private, philanthropic donations.
NUI Galway (NUIG) president Dr Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh says the plan responds to a 40 per cent growth in student numbers over the past six years, and to the university's role in supporting indigenous, high-value industry.
"Already we are home to the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science and the Digital Enterprise Research Institute, which are world-class facilities," Dr Ó Muircheartaigh says.
"We also have the Moore Institute, which is undertaking pioneering research in the humanities and social sciences."
The university now has an international reputation for supporting "fourth-level" activity, as in postgraduate research, but similar "world-class facilities" are required for its undergraduate students, he says.
The college has grown from 11,000 students in 2000 to 15,000 students currently, and to this end the NUIG's governing authority authorised a capital development programme in May of this year.
Work has already begun on some of the new projects, but the college wants to ensure that future development is integrated, rather than piecemeal. Flagship buildings will include a new €21 million sports centre, a cultural centre, and an engineering building due for completion in 2009 at a cost of over €50 million.
It will replace the existing engineering faculty accommodation spread across 13 buildings, most of which are off the main campus and which include valuable city centre property on Nun's Island.
A new human biology building will combine the work of the departments of anatomy, physiology and pharmacology, while a new law school will include jury rooms and a court room which can be used by the Courts Service on campus.
The plan involves refurbishing the 19th century quadrangle, extending the existing arts millennium building and clinical sciences institute, expanding the James Hardiman library and replacing pitches at the sports grounds in Dangan.
An emphasis on "campus mobility" will include a new entrance on Newcastle Road and parking and transport initiatives such as "park and ride" to reduce pressure on the university's existing carparking facilities.
The "campus of the future" programme aims to "harmonise the natural and built environments", preserving existing walkways and open spaces where possible and "creating" a riverside "amenity" which can be used by the wider Galway community. The "student experience" will be a core principle of the development, which is all subject to planning approval, Dr Ó Muircheartaigh says.
A model of the proposed development will be on display at the Orbsen building, NUIG, from 10am to 4pm over the next fortnight, and local consultation will take place on a "project by project basis".
