ATU's First Year

On 1 April, ATU celebrates its first anniversary. We look back over the year to bring you some of the highlights of our first 12 months.

April 2022

Three insititutes- GMIT, IT Sligo and LYIT - became one and Minister Simon Harris launched ATU.

ATU Governing Body met for the first time and approved the appointment of our new University President, Dr Orla Flynn.

May 2022

Hundreds of prospective students attended our first open days as a new university.

We launched 54 programmes in the Science, Technology and Engineering, Business and Social Science disciplines under the 2022 Springboard+ Programme.

They are designed for those seeking employment and those already employed, wishing to upskill.

June 2022

We signed agreements with universities and third-level educational institutes in Canada and met ATU Alunmi in Vancover.

Our partnerships with educational institutes world-wide will increase educational and research opportunities for ATU staff and students.

July 2022

We raised the Pride flag and attended Pride summer events in Galway, Mayo, Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal.

August 2022

We held our first ATU Summer School. Over 40 undergraduate students, travelled from Sweden, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany to attend our Sustainable Futures Summer University Course.

September 2022

We welcomed over 4,000 new first-year students who started programmes across all our campuses in Donegal, Galway, Mayo and Sligo.

Students from around Ireland were joined by many international students.

We also became members of the EU GREEN European University Alliance.

October 2022

We hosted a conference which explored the economic and social potential of the north-west region in terms of education and employment.

The conference was organised by the North West Tertiary Education Cluster (NWTEC) comprising of ATU, Donegal Education & Training Board (DETB), Ulster University (UU) and North West Regional College (NWRC).

November 2022

Over 5,000 students graduated from ATU with 1,390 in Donegal, 1,780 in Sligo, and 1,850 in Galway and Mayo.

They were the first graduates to be conferred with ATU awards. 21 ceremonies took place across five locations in the west and north-west.

St. Angela’s College Sligo and ATU officially lodged a joint submission to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills for the integration of St. Angela’s College into ATU.

December 2022

ATU became the first technological university to have one of its campuses designated as Autism Friendly with ATU Sligo receiving this accolade.

ATU Sligo joins DCU and NCI in being designated as Autism Friendly and are the first in the west of Ireland to achieve the award.

January 2023

Our new ATU Academic Council met for the first time. The meeting was hosted by ATU Mayo campus.

The council comprises of academics, and professional, management and support staff from the three colleges: Galway-Mayo, Donegal and Sligo.

We held our first research symposium in Modelling and Computation for Heath and Society (MOCHAS). MOCHAS will produce high-level, multidisciplinary research graduates who can develop, communicate, and exploit modelling tools for the solution of real-world problems relevant to societal needs.

The MOCHAS projects researchers are collaborating with 9 public enterprises, 11 private enterprises, and 14 national and international research partners.

February 2023

ATU hosted the global event, “Invent for the Planet 2023”. Students from six universities and 20 countries looked at developing sustainable solutions to hard problems. In their pitches students addressed environmental, sustainability, and social issues.

March 2023

ATU Sport hosted the Yoplait LGFA HEC Championships 2023 at the Connaught GAA Centre of Excellence in Mayo.