The National College of Ireland (NCI) is looking to secure Government funding to build a second campus in Dublin city centre.

The college wants to double its spaces in computer and IT courses to address a skills shortage in the capital’s financial and tech sectors. NCI is seeking to purchase land near the IFSC and develop a multimillion 10,000sq m campus to take on 1,500 new students in the short-term.

The college’s president, Gina Quinn, met Minister for Education Richard Bruton on February 16th to lobby for State funding for the plans. The department confirmed that a proposal for part-funding of the expansive project has been submitted by NCI and “is currently being assessed”.

Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe also met Ms Quinn, in November last year, to discuss the project.

NCI has 5,000 students and is a private, non-profit college, which mainly runs business and computer diploma and degree courses. The current campus, based in the IFSC, has reached maximum capacity, and the number of students entering higher education in the next five years is set to grow considerably.

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