HomeNewsShannon College merges with NUI Galway

Shannon College merges with NUI Galway

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Shannon College of Hotel Management students Neil Xiang Yiu Yu and Alina Sile with Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan at the incorporation of Shannon College of Hotel Management into NUI Galway Photograph by Aengus McMahon
Shannon College of Hotel Management students Neil Xiang Yiu Yu and Alina Sile with Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan at the incorporation of Shannon College of Hotel Management into NUI Galway
Photograph by Aengus McMahon

THE Shannon College of Hotel Management is now part of NUI Galway.

The merger is the first of its kind in Ireland and will see the Shannon institution become the first such college dedicated to hotel management in an Irish university.

The idea behind the merger is to sustain and develop educational excellence in both institutions, and ensure that resources are put to best use to meet the challenges of research, education and learning in the student-centred higher education landscape.

Marking the merger on Monday, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan said that the Shannon College of Hotel Management’s international standing and track record of success was almost unrivalled for a college of its size, with its alumni as leaders in the hospitality industry globally.

“The incorporation into NUI Galway illustrates the benefits of greater cohesion across the third level sector nationally and in providing a greater return from available resources and I congratulate both on this and wish them every success going forward.”

As part of the College of Business, Public Policy and Law at NUI Galway, all academic and administrative systems have been aligned across what has become the same institution on two locations.

Shannon College of Hotel Management programmes have been aligned with existing NUI Galway programmes and it is intended that further courses, both taught and research, particularly at postgraduate level will be offered.

The institutions will also work together on promoting their courses and research internationally.

The integration will mean that an Irish university will have a school devoted to the tourism sector for the first time.

Already NUI Galway and Shannon College have together secured research funding from Fáilte Ireland to examine the economic impact of the Wild Atlantic Way.

In 2014, Shannon College of Hotel Management welcomed 42 per cent of all students entering Level 8 hotel, tourism and hospitality programmes in Ireland.

The College maintains an impressive 100 per cent graduate employment rate, including some leading figures in the industry across the globe at the Jumeriah Group, Dubai; Waldorf Astoria, New York; Trump Towers, Chicago; The Dorchester and The Ritz, London; and The Shelbourne, Dublin.

The internationally renowned college was the brainchild of the father figure of Shannon Airport, Dr Brendan O’Regan.

It was established in 1951 next to the airport to ensure a ready supply of world-class hoteliers was available for the emerging hotel industry as it seized on the tourism opportunity triggered by the growth then of transatlantic and other international services into Shannon.

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