OPINION: Beware of wolves in Coleraine clothing

The announcement of a Taskforce for Magee expansion is a small but welcome development in Derry’s long campaign for a proper university.

It also raises many questions. Why is a Taskforce needed at all – given that Magee expansion was agreed under Stormont’s 2020 ‘New Decade, New Approach’ (NDNA)? No similar Taskforce was required when Stormont financed the relocation of 15,000 students (and 2,500 staff) into a new Ulster Uni campus in Belfast’s York Street. As always, it seems that Derry must jump hoops and climb hurdles that are absent when it comes to funding for Belfast.

There is also suspicion that the Taskforce is a delaying tactic, given it has long been clear what is required to grow student numbers here. And then there is concern that the move is a smokescreen to feign progress ahead of the impending General Election.

But if we take the announcement at face value it will hopefully be an important step towards securing the starting point of 10,000 student places here.

Within hours of the Taskforce’s announcement, however, voices were creating mischief. A Limavady DUP councillor took to social media to declare that any increase in student numbers for Derry should be matched at Coleraine.

A DUP MLA for North Belfast (notably his party’s spokesperson on Infrastructure, not the Economy or Education) then submitted a written question to the Economy Minister to ask “When will he create a similar Taskforce to look at expanding student numbers at the University of Ulster Coleraine campus?”.

There may well be a compelling case for the expansion of student provision at Coleraine. The problem is that we only hear such calls whenever Magee is in the spotlight - the rest of the time these voices stay strangely silent. And if there is indeed a strong case for significant expansion of student numbers at UUC (University of Ulster Coleraine), why is it not being made by the appropriate organisations and individuals from within the town itself?

The DUP have developed a habit of using Coleraine to counter Derry’s case for university expansion. In 2021 the party’s then-Economy Minister Diane Dodds spoke out against Ulster University’s (UU) decision to relocate 800 Health Science places from Jordanstown to Magee.

In a frankly staggering intervention for the minister in charge of Higher Education (HE), she spoke publicly against Derry securing those student places in preference to Coleraine - and issued a threatening reminder to UU that her department provides its funding. She then concluded: “I expect Ulster University to be transparent and equitable in its distribution of teaching provision across all of its campuses”.

What made that statement ironic was that Minister Dodds and her party had failed for many years prior to then to ensure such a balanced allocation across UU’s campuses.

The DUP held the Economy portfolio, and its ‘Trade, Enterprise & Investment’ predecessor, without break for the 15 years between 2007 and 2022. Across that period there were no fewer than seven different DUP Economy/Enterprise Ministers – including big hitters like Arlene Foster, Simon Hamilton and Nigel Dodds. During those 15 unbroken years in charge of HE theDUP did nothing of substance to expand student numbers at Coleraine. In fact - they did the opposite.

They instead provided financial support for a new Ulster University campus in a DUP constituency in Belfast – failing to ensure any additional courses/places were located in Coleraine or Magee as part of that move.

The lesson of history is that it is only when Magee appears set for expansion that the DUP suddenly discover a concern for either Coleraine or a more equitable distribution of student places.

If there was an endless supply of students to go around then this would merely be an irritant. But the reality is that increased student numbers require significant up-front capital funding, plus a big increase in the ongoing subsidy for student fees. Stormont therefore has limited finances to commit towards a growth in student numbers.

So expanding Coleraine campus in-line with Derry would in practise mean curtailing the growth of Magee to pay for it – despite Magee being the only campus that is an agreed Stormont objective.

It would be unreasonable to expect a market town of 24,000 people to contain the same number of students as a regional city of 105,000 people. Just like it would be unreasonable to expect Derry to match Belfast’s 45,000 student places. Coleraine’s student cohort already equates to 17% of that town’s entire population – which for Derry would be the equivalent of 17,800 students at Magee (it currently has 5,000).

Despite the large disparity in populations between the towns, it is only in the last two years that Magee has finally overtaken UUC in student numbers.

If there is indeed a compelling case for significant growth of Coleraine University, it should absolutely be made – on its own merits and through the appropriate channels.

To be credible, such a proposal should also have the support of Coleraine’s civic, business and community sectors. But that appears to be lacking currently. For decades Derry has had high-profile campaigns seeking university expansion, which has consistently been the number one economic priority here and a unifying objective for the entire city. In contrast there has been no parallel campaign or pressure within Coleraine.

Whilst the City Deal for the Derry-Strabane District has university expansion at its very heart, and allocates the majority of its funding towards that task, the Growth Deal for the Causeway Coast & Glens Council area is rather muted about UUC.

Expanding Coleraine’s student population is neither listed nor referenced amongst the five over-arching objectives for their Growth Deal, whilst its website doesn’t even mention the word ‘university’. In terms of council strategies - the 2011 ‘One Plan’ for Derry revolved heavily around the idea of expanding student numbers here to 10,000 places.

Coleraine’s equivalent strategy - the ‘Northern Area Plan 2016’ – makes no mention of substantial student growth, or even the creation of additional student housing. It instead focuses upon the use of university land to create a new Science Park for the town.

So if there is a compelling case for significant growth of student places at UUC, why is it not being made clearly and consistently within the town and by its own council?

For the DUP to only speak up for Coleraine whenever investment is proposed at Magee - and to have failed to deliver for other UU campuses whilst they poured 15,000 students into Belfast – places a question mark around the party’s motives on this issue.

Are they indulging in classic ‘zero sum’ politics here – whereby investment in a city full of ‘themuns’ must always be countered by similar spending for a place filled with ‘our lot’?

It would not be the first time that politicians here have sought to distribute public funding on the basis of a sectarian carve up, rather than on demonstrable need or merit.

For 15 years the DUP had the power to push for significant expansion of Coleraine University. They failed to do so - and promoted a huge increase in student numbers in one of their Belfast constituencies instead. Yet now that Magee seems to finally be getting some overdue attention, the DUP suddenly remembers that UUC exists.

Coleraine deserves better than to be weaponised as a tool to dilute, delay or block the development of a full-size university in NI’s second largest city. The Economy Minister must beware of wolves in Coleraine clothing on this issue.

Unless and until civic society within Coleraine itself begins to make a compelling and consistent case for the significant expansion of student numbers at UUC, he must recognise DUP calls for a Coleraine Taskforce as the zero-sum blocking tactic that they clearly are.

Steve Bradley is a regeneration consultant and writer. He can be followed on Twitter/X at @Bradley_Steve