GMIT Galway Campus

[EduCativ]

Welcome to GMIT. "At GMIT, we develop life-long learning opportunities through our teaching and research by supporting regional development consistent with national higher education policy."

Learning is and will be the core activity of the Institute, bringing students, staff, and the region together to share, apply, test, and create knowledge; GMIT will continue to develop as a regional organization with an international focus committed to the personal and professional enrichment of its students, the needs of its region, national priorities and global opportunities, GMIT will both shape and respond to the perspectives and expectations of its stakeholders and will work in collaboration with them to meet their needs, GMIT will be an organization characterized by its flexibility, creativity, responsiveness and a capacity to adapt.

In the 1960s, Ireland was characterized by a small elite system of higher education, catering almost exclusively to professional and public sector employment. The Mulcahy Report (1967) recommended establishing several Regional Technical Colleges around the country, highlighting that Irish people generally did not have the opportunity to become technically skilled because of the prevalent academic bias in the educational system.

Increased technical knowledge and skills were regarded as essential prerequisites for further economic growth, promoting innovation and enterprise. The Mulcahy Report recommended that the Regional Technical College in Galway be designated as the leading center outside Dublin for both craft and management education and the hotel industry training.

The first students entered the Regional Technical College Galway on Monday 18 September 1972, and a new era in the educational history of the city and region began.

The Regional Technical Colleges' Act of 1992 defined the function of the Regional Technical College sector as follows:

• "To provide vocational and technical education and training for the state's economic, technological, scientific, commercial, industrial, social, and cultural development with particular reference to the region served by the College."
• This legislation also authorized a college, subject to such conditions as the Minister for Education may determine:
• "To engage in research, consultancy and development work and to provide such services about these matters as the Governing Body of the college considers appropriate."
• In 1998, the Regional Technical College Galway (RTC) was legally designated an Institute of Technology and renamed the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT).
• The Institutes of Technology Act 2006, among other things, brought the Institutes under the aegis of the Higher Education Authority (up until then, they were under the Department of Education), similar to Ireland's university sector.
• Currently, Technological University (TU) legislation is being drafted due to the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030, which allows for amalgamated Institutes of Technology, upon reaching set criteria, to apply for re-designation as a TU.

GMIT, Letterkenny IT, and IT Sligo have formed a strategic partnership, the Connacht-Ulster Alliance, to achieve the criteria required for designation as a Technological University. All three Institutes are working together on flexible learning delivery, research, innovation, bespoke delivery for industry, links to local Education and Training Boards, international student recruitment, and staff development.

GMIT and LIT have an alliance involving a detailed program of enhanced collaboration, co-operation, and development. The alliance activities enhance the development of the West/North West Regional Cluster and the Mid-West Regional Cluster.

GMIT and NUI Galway have a strategic alliance that allows for collaborative opportunities in teaching and learning, research, entrepreneurship, regional development, commercialization, innovation, distance education, and work-based learning.

GMIT and the Marine Institute have a strategic alliance that develops marine research capabilities, undergraduate and postgraduate marine science programs, and staff training & development initiatives in the two institutes. The memorandum of agreement allows for joint adjunct appointments between the two organizations.

The Academic Council is responsible for developing appropriate procedures for academic quality assurance in the design, delivery, learning, and assessment methodologies of programs regarding change and best practice. The underlying thrust of these procedures is towards continuous improvement in practices relating to the development and operation of programs and fostering high academic standards across the Institute.

All institute staff and students are involved in the achievement of academic excellence. GMIT assures its programs' quality by adopting and implementing a Quality Assurance Framework consisting of a series of academic policies and procedures.

GMIT was the first Institute to introduce the First Year Experience initiative, which consists of the #First5Weeks welcome program, an innovative module (Learning and Innovation Skills) designed to ease the transition to higher education, and a peer support program (Peer Assisted Study Sessions - PASS). The Peer Assisted Study Sessions program (PASS) offers cross-year support between students on the same program. It is designed to engage students more with their learning and give them a sense of belonging in a large organization.

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