GMIT buys pre-fabs to facilitate growing student numbers

Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) has agreed to buy prefabs to facilitate growth in student numbers on campus.

At the same time, management of the Dublin Road college has warned that demand for places is so high that it may not be able to make offers to everyone who wants to study there.

It comes as the college last month unveiled plans to extend GMIT’s footprint on the Dublin Road – with confirmation from the college that it has purchased Galwegians’ grounds for €9 million. That however is a longer term plan.

Members of the Governing Body of GMIT have expressed fears that prefabs – or ‘modular buildings’ – may impact negatively on the experience of students attending GMIT, and its ‘brand’.

Michael Geoghegan, a member of the Governing Body, told his colleagues that modular buildings was ‘not the way to go’.

“It’s not the solution to the infrastructure problems,” he said, according to minutes of Governing Body meetings.

Jim Fennell Vice-President for Finance and Corporate Services said GMIT “cannot have new buildings without capital funding” and he advised that it normally takes “four to five years to deliver capital projects”.

“The only options open to GMIT to support current growth in student numbers, are modular buildings and leasing of buildings off campus,” Mr Fennell told the Governing Body.

Chair of the Governing Body, Cormac MacDonncha said it was a “risk going down a path of procuring modular buildings”.

He said he understood the constraints and lack of capital funding and advised that it “should be flagged as a risk going forward”.

According to the minutes, Mr Geoghegan said that GMIT spend a lot of time on brand and image, and he asked if modular buildings would “have a negative impact”. He also noted that GMIT admitted 1,600 first years in 2020, and 2,000 in 2021.

Mr Fennell said GMIT “was trying to support growth as best we can”.

Galway County Councillor Colm Keaveney (FF) said prefabs are temporary solutions and can be removed. He noted the dilemma between the negatives of modular buildings and “pursuing student numbers and growth”.

But Mr Geoghegan said: “Modular buildings become permanent” and GMIT needed to explore other alternatives, including the possibility of leasing buildings in the city to support student expansion.

Another Governing Body member, Siobhan Kennedy, advised there was a balance to be achieved between “supporting continuous growth . . . and keeping students on campus while ensuring that the location of modular buildings is consistent with the capital projects plan”.

Galway City Councillor Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) said it was “very good news” on student numbers and it was a “positive reflection” on GMIT. But she said that “modular buildings are expensive to run, including heating and maintenance”.

Mr Fennell confirmed to Cllr O’Flaherty that “the first set of modular buildings are being purchased”, and it will consider leasing or purchasing more.

According to the minutes of the meeting, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Registrar, Dr Michael Hannon, noted the strong growth in student numbers and demand for places at GMIT.

He said he was concerned that GMIT “now finds itself in a position where it was not able to make offers to all students who wish to study in GMIT” including some students for whom GMIT is their college of first choice.