Cork Institute of Technology

About

Cork Institute of Technology (CIT; Irish: Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Chorcaí) was an institute of technology, located in Cork, Ireland. Upon its dissolution, the institute had 17,000 students studying in art, business, engineering, music, drama and science disciplines. The institute had been named as Institute of Technology of the Year in The Sunday Times University Guide for Ireland on numerous occasions. On 1 January 2021, the institute merged with the Institute of Technology, Tralee to become the Munster Technological University, Ireland's second technological university. Cork Institute of Technology consisted of two constituent faculties and three constituent colleges. The constituent faculties were Engineering and Science, and Business and Humanities. The constituent colleges were the CIT Crawford College of Art and Design, the CIT Cork School of Music and the National Maritime College of Ireland. Faculties were made up of Schools which in turn comprise two or more academic departments. As of May 2020, CIT had 1,465 staff members of whom 862 were academic staff.

Cork Institute of Technology, and its predecessor Cork Regional Technical College (CRTC), developed from earlier institutions such as the Royal Cork Institution which existed from 1807 until 1861, and the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute which was founded in 1912, which trained students in Science and Engineering. In 1930 the City of Cork Vocational Education Committee was set up. Cork Regional Technical College was established in 1974 and the Crawford Institute was merged with the new Cork RTC in 1976. Following enactment of the Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992, it incorporated the Cork School of Music and the Crawford College of Art and Design on 1 January 1993. In late 1997 it was renamed from Regional Technical College, Cork, to Cork Institute of Technology. James P. Roche who was head of Crawford, became the first principal of Cork RTC. Dr. Patrick Kelleher became principal of the RTC in 1988, and the director of Cork IT until 2004. In 2007 the title of the head of the institute changed from "Director" to "President". Dr. Brendan J. Murphy was director/president from 2004 until retiring in 2017. He was succeeded by Dr. Barry O'Connor. In March 2008, it was announced that CIT was applying for university status. On 1 January 2021, the institute merged with the Institute of Technology, Tralee to become the Munster Technological University, Ireland's second technological university.

The institute's 2020 staff complement was 1,465, 862 being academic staff. The academic staff consisted of 473 permanent whole-time, 156 pro-rata part-time and 233 hourly-paid part-time members. The non-academic staff was composed of technical support, library, administrative and services staff. The non-academic staff members broke down as follows: 131 management, clerical, administrative and library; 177 student services, including examination invigilators; 82 technicians; 67 research staff; and 96 support staff including caretakers, attendants and cleaners.

Research was a core dimension of CIT activity. This is underlined by the fact that, after Dublin Institute of Technology, CIT has the most extensive delegated authority to award PhDs. In collaboration with a wide range of organisations including Higher Education Institutions, Industry, State and Voluntary Bodies, CIT is involved in research that contributes to supporting:

Regional and National Industry. The National and EU knowledge economy and Innovation Base. Enhanced quality of life within Irish society. Quality research postgraduate education at Masters and PhD level. Quality undergraduate and taught postgraduate teaching and learning. The main Institute research activity was primarily, though not exclusively, organised around three Strategic Research Clusters that reflect the CIT current dominant strategic research strengths and critical mass. There are also new and emerging areas of research and a number of long established centres that engage in research and consultancy. Across the Institute faculties and constituent colleges, academic staff research interests range across Engineering, Science, Business and Humanities, Music and Art. The CIT Research mission is to continue to build on niche strengths and to develop sustainable and productive research, innovation, technology transfer and postgraduate education across all its faculties. CIT hosted the 2011 Collaborative European Research Conference at its Blackrock Castle Observatory.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.