Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD, with students (back row from left) Bobby Ring, George Mihailescu, Isha McDonnell and Aidan Byrne. Image: Julien Behal Photography
In order to meet greater capacity, DCU has opened a new wing of its engineering and research unit at a cost of €11m.
Dublin City University (DCU) has cut the ribbon on a new wing of the Stokes Engineering and Research Building, home to the institution’s School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and the School of Electronic Engineering.
Costing €11m, the four-storey expansion will now cater for up to 1,400 students across its six lecture rooms, 22 office space units and eight open-plan research and office units.
The project is part of the university’s Campus Capital Development Plan, expected to run until 2020 and funded by the European Investment Bank.
The building was named in honour of George Gabriel Stokes, the Sligo-born polymath renowned for many advances in science.
Speaking at the opening, DCU president Prof Brian MacCraith said: “We are delighted to have completed this considerable expansion of the Stokes Engineering and Research Building, which is one of many important elements in our Campus Capital Development Plan.
“This new facility will not only advance our mission of excellence in education, research and innovation, but will also enhance the DCU student experience and provide capacity for up to 1,400 students at DCU.”
Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD, was also at the launch, adding: “It is also important to note that the level of development underway at DCU reflects the scale and ambition of DCU who play a pivotal role, nationally and internationally, in STEM education and research.”
The news follows the university’s announcement last month that it was teaming up with the online social learning hub FutureLearn to create 30 refugee scholarships.
This is part of a joint scholarship scheme between the two bodies and will enable asylum seekers and refugees to pursue certificates of completion from a wide range of courses offered on FutureLearn’s platform.
Mark Lester, director of partnerships development at FutureLearn, said at the time: “DCU has long been a champion of online education in Europe, and we are proud to be hosting its ‘Irish Language and Culture’ and ‘High-Performance Computing in the Cloud’ courses.”
