DCC carrying out aneconomic appraisalon Magee expansion
A half century after Lockwood decided Coleraine would be better fitted financially and politically as the site of a second university for Northern Ireland, Derry City Council is now taking the current Universities Minister Dr Stephen Farry’s advice and carrying out a proper economic appraisal of the proposed expansion of Magee to 9,400 student places by 2020.
The local authority is inviting tenders for the contract to carry out the appraisal, which is scheduled for completion in September.
Once this is completed “the appraisal will be submitted by the University of Ulster to the Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) for consideration with the objective of securing commitment from DEL and the NI Executive for inclusion of the preferred option in the next Comprehensive Spending Review and Programme for Government 2015/16 to 2020.”
Dr Farry said an economic appraisal would be needed to prove sufficient demand.