Dublin's only northside university, DCU, has started a campaign to break down the apparent parochialism of some students when selecting a college.
The campaign, which relies on posters and T-shirts, reminds students that while DCU is located on the northside, it is only a bus ride away for students on the southside and those in the commuter belt of Kildare, Meath and Louth.
Currently about 40 per cent of DCU's students come from Dublin, the majority of them from northside suburbs such as Glasnevin, Malahide, Clontarf and Sutton. The college wants to expand its base and compete for students who might normally only consider UCD and Trinity.
The college is now served by 16 different bus routes and express buses run from locations as far south as Shankill. "We believe students should always pick the degree programme that most interests them. However, it is a shame that some students don't realise how accessible DCU is by public transport and therefore miss out on the choice of degrees we offer," Ms Ita Tobin, DCU student officer, said.
Traditionally the universities have taken their students from local schools, with UCD and DCU in particular carving up the southside and northside, respectively. However, with the student population dropping rapidly colleges are having to market themselves to students right across the city and in surrounding counties.
A spokeswoman for DCU said some students, for a variety of reasons, might not have considered attending college on the northside, but DCU was now very accessible and this was the focus of the campaign. It uses students from the college, wearing T-shirts, saying: "You can go anywhere in the world from here".
Meanwhile, the Chancellor of the NUI, Dr Garret FitzGerald, yesterday emphasised the leadership role of the universities in defending "humane values".
He said some forms of knowledge were "undoubtedly more influential, more highly valued and rewarded", but society must make sure other forms of knowledge did not decline. He was speaking at the 2002 NUI awards in Dublin.