NUI Maynooth has cast off its crusty image to become one of the most successful universities in the State. Its new president, Prof John Hughes, is determined to build on progress. He talks to Sean Flynn, Education Editor

If you want to get the sense of how things are changing at Maynooth, take the brief walk from the president's office down to the gleaming new John Hume Building, the focal point of a €100 million development on the North Campus.

There is an ecclesiastical aura across the older part of the university, which runs alongside St Patrick's College, Maynooth where the president's office is located. At one stage, this was the biggest seminary in the State, housing hundreds of candidates for the priesthood at any given time during the 1950s.

The John Hume Building, called after the Nobel prizewinner and former seminarian at the college, symbolises the bright future of the university. Maynooth, formerly the poor relation of the university sector, is now thriving and the college has bucked a trend which has seen a significant fall in CAO applications this year. Applications for the vast majority of Maynooth's courses have increased significantly. Some 57 per cent of this autumn's student intake opted for Maynooth as their first choice.

The new president, Prof John Hughes, appears determined to build on this progress. Unstuffy and open, he is also clearly anxious to maintain Maynooth's reputation as a friendly, convivial place to study. During our conversation, it becomes clear that Hughes's specialist subject is the dominance (until this year) of Ulster teams in the Gaelic football championship. He is very, very big on his Ulster roots.

Hughes was educated by the Christian Brothers and at Queen's University Belfast. After working in Queen's and at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, he became Professor of Information Systems at the University of Ulster (UU) more than a decade ago. He held a number of senior posts at UU, including vice-president for research, before taking up the Maynooth job in June.

So what were his first impressions? "You have to be struck by the collegiality of this place. Maynooth has outstanding teachers and students but it also has a friendliness that sets it apart. There are more than 1,000 students living on the campus. It is the kind of environment in which any student would like to study."

Hughes believes the third-level sector is in relatively good shape, despite the cutbacks in day-to-day funding. "The money flowing into the system from the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI) and from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has made a huge difference. There is also a focus on academic excellence; there is little sense here that academics are being diverted to essentially bureaucratic work.

"There is a strong tradition of academic freedom in the Republic. It is something which can be taken advantage of, but it can also deliver real dividends in terms of producing quality work."

Despite this, Hughes admits he becomes uneasy when he hears criticism of the so called "pro-business" agenda in the third-level sector. "I don't see any contradiction between the need to forge business links and the maintenance of academic freedom. Here in Maynooth, I want to build strong links with major local employers such as Hewlett-Packard and Intel."

He dislikes the tradition where universities were traditionally aloof from their local environment. "I want the university to be at the centre of social, cultural and economic life in this town and in this region."

He is enthusiastic about the "logical and sensible" conclusions of the recent OECD report on third-level. It presents an exciting agenda for change and it should be implemented, he says.

"But the universities need to communicate their own problems much more clearly to the public. As a first step, he says, the third-level sector needs to be more proactive in getting out there to demonstrate its relevance to the entire community.

Given his research background, Hughes is anxious for Maynooth to raise its game in this area. The college has done well to attract SFI researchers, but it did not perform strongly in the competitive race for PRTLI funding in the last round. "I want to establish new centres of excellence with world-leading researchers. My priorities are to build the research base and to provide excellence in teaching in every faculty."

The transformation of Maynooth into a leading research university is an ambitious target. At present, some 70 per cent of its academic staff work in the arts and humanities area. But Hughes is unfazed by the challenge. His mission, he says, is to make Maynooth an outstanding university with an international reputation.

Hughes is also very demanding when it comes to his own performance. In common with other university heads, he enjoys a 10-year contract. Unlike some, he will also be subject to a bi-annual performance evaluation by external assessors. "It is something I am well used to from my experience in UU and Vienna. I'm looking forward to the challenge."