April 2004

The President of NUI Galway, Dr. Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, today (29th April 2004) announced plans to develop a new €16 million School of Business on campus at the University. An Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, TD was present to officially turn the sod for the 4000 square metre facility which is due for completion by September 2005. The development of a new business school at NUI Galway has been made possible through a combination of PRTLI, EU and private funding, led by a €4.5 million donation by Atlantic Philanthropies. Additional funding is anticipated through further donations and expansion of the overseas visiting student programme, with increased numbers of students from the US and Europe. This new facility will be part of the Faculty of Commerce, which has grown rapidly in recent years to 1600 undergraduate and postgraduate students and over 50 full time staff. The business school is an important development for the West of Ireland and will add much needed support to local industry to drive innovation and change in the entire BMW region. The school will provide world-class business education and the infrastructure necessary to accelerate the development of a knowledge-based economy in the West. The new Centre for Innovation & Structural Change (CISC), which will be located at the business school, is responsible for examining science, technology and innovation processes that are central to the development of this knowledge-based economy. Commenting on the development of the new business school, the President of NUI Galway, Dr Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh said: "This new business school is the key to realising the vision for world-class business education and research in the West of Ireland. Through its innovative approach to learning and research, the business school will enhance competitiveness in the West of Ireland. Infrastructure projects like these are necessary to transform the local economy into a knowledge-based economy which will accelerate development and growth in this region. Professor Roy Green, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce added, "The Faculty of Commerce at NUI Galway has long been recognised as one of the leading business faculties in the country, producing some of Ireland's leading business people and public administrators. We will work closely and collaborate with industry to provide programmes that will deliver the business leaders of the future, building on our well regarded Bachelor of Commerce, MBA, Masters in Technology Management and a range of other programmes. We also have an exciting programme of research that will consolidate NUI Galway's role as a centre of excellence in the understanding of innovation and the knowledge-based economy." The new business school facility will accommodate up to 500 postgraduate students, 120 undergraduate students in a new Business Information Systems degree and 100 researchers, significantly increasing current capacity. In collaboration with local industry, it is also expected that existing programmes will be expanded to suit specific industry requirements. Programmes under consideration include an MBA in Healthcare Management, a Masters in European Business and Policy and executive programmes through global university alliances. In a separate development at the University today, An Taoiseach also launched a new Webcasting service for communities throughout the West of Ireland and beyond. In line with the commitment of NUI Galway's strategic plan (2003-2008), the purpose of this service is to ensure that the University's programmes and events are available to individuals in geographically dispersed areas. The public element of the Webcasting Service is being developed as a strand of the Community Knowledge Initiative (CKI), which aims to promote greater civic engagement across the university and strengthen university-community links. NUI Galway is piloting the service with its CKI partner, IRD-Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo, now able to exploit their broadband connectivity to avail of guest lectures, specialist events and particular course materials from the University. "The rural community will greatly benefit from this initiative. People will now be able to avail of a number of relevant academic programmes without leaving their own locality. Clearly this will help to keep people in their native area, thereby sustaining the social and economic fabric of these communities with a consequent impact on employment and improvement of the quality of life," said Joe Kelly, Chief Executive of IRD Kiltimagh Ltd. "NUI Galway has a long tradition in community and regional development," said University President, Dr. Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh. "We can now exploit the latest technology to deliver University programmes to remote areas and empower communities to equip themselves with the knowledge and expertise hitherto unavailable to them." While in NUI Galway, An Taoiseach was also briefed on plans for a new School of Engineering, which will consolidate the University's four engineering departments under one roof. The €53 million project is designed to provide the most modern facilities for teaching and research which will be a significant resource for the west region. The launch of web-casting facilities will be broadcast live on: http://www.nuigalway.ie/webcast Ends

What do we gain from hoaxes? Why do writers, artists and film-makers often set out to trick us? What is the precise nature of the relationship between seduction, deception and art? These are the kind of questions that will be tackled by some fifty international speakers at a bilingual French-English conference to take place in NUI Galway on the 16 and 17 April 2004. Members of the public are invited to attend the two keynote lectures of the conference, organised by the Department of French of the University. Both lectures will take place in Lecture Theatre IT-125, Information Technology Building. On Friday (April 16 at 9.30 a.m.), Jean-François Jeandillou, France's leading expert on literary hoaxes, will present a keynote lecture, 'La Supercherie littéraire en images', on the way in which fake portraits — paintings, photographs, even statues — have served, in the past, as supposed proofs of the existence of imaginary authors. Jeandillou also claims to be in the process of translating the Songs of Ossian into Swahili and to have been awarded the prestigious title of Honorary President of the International Association of Trickery Studies. However, conference organisers are reluctant either to confirm or deny these impressive assertions. The second keynote lecture will be delivered on Saturday (April 17th at 1.30 p.m.), by Malcolm Bowie, internationally renowned for his numerous publications on, among others, Lacan, Proust and Mallarmé. Bowie was awarded the Truman Capote prize for Literary Criticism in 2001 for his book Proust among the Stars (Cambridge University Press, 2001). The title of Bowie's paper will be 'Mallarmé, Psychoanalysis and "Mystery in Literature"'. Further details of the conference are available on the French Department's web site at (http://www.nuigalway.ie/french/trickery). Ends

eNable SME Workshop at NUI Galway A workshop designed to encourage and facilitate Irish businesses in the area of innovation, technology and eBusiness, will take place in NUI Galway, on Wednesday 19th May from 10.30 am until 4 pm. Hosted by the University's Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC), the workshop, which is free of charge, will take place in the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science (NCBES) seminar room. A light lunch will be provided for participants. According to Ralf Burbach, CISC researcher, the purpose of the workshop is to present new technology solutions, purposely designed to advance SMEs to a full player in a virtual supply chain. "Interested representatives of SMEs and large enterprises alike are cordially invited to attend this workshop," he says. Presentations will be delivered under these headings: Human Resource Information Systems Audit Tools Stimulating Growth through Managed Innovation and Change - Online! A framework for e-business enablement. The demonstrations will allow participants to assess their own company's key business-to-business and human resource competences. This workshop is the culmination of a research project entitled "eNable SMEs", which comprises an internationally recognised team of researchers, all based at NUI Galway. This a non-commercial venture and has been funded by Enterprise Ireland with the specific objective of assisting Irish organisations. It includes the following components: Human Resource Information Systems led by the CISC; Cost effective internet-based solutions for project portfolio management, led by the Computer Integrated Manufacturing Research Unit (CIMRU); and Low cost digital virtual supply chain solutions, led by the Information Technology Department (ITD). If you would like to attend, please contact Ralf Burbach at the Centre for Innovation and Structural Change by phone (091 512 413), or by e-mail: cisc@nuigalway.ie Ends