Third-level colleges have a prime role to play in helping to reduce inequalities between the 13 counties of the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) region and the rest of the State, according to the director of the Institute of Technology in Sligo.
Dr Richard Thorn was calling for investment of €635 million to enable a new co-operative of third-level colleges in the BMW region to implement a plan aimed at improving access to higher education.
Lionra, which was launched late last year, has brought together the institutes of technology in Sligo, Dundalk, Athlone, Letterkenny, Castlebar and Galway as well as NUI Galway and St Angela's College in Sligo.
An operational plan, Building the Learning Region Together, places much emphasis on e-learning and open distance learning (ODL), and its recommendations include the establishment of outreach learning centres, a virtual school for science and a Lionra shared library.
Dr Thorn said the colleges shared a vision of working together to provide a more effective service. "We need to find ways of reaching people and communities who have been excluded from higher education in the past, for example, people in isolated rural communities and people who did not have opportunities to attend higher education when they were younger," he said.