{"id":2314,"date":"2018-11-08T09:15:10","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T09:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/?p=2314"},"modified":"2022-02-26T12:43:31","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T12:43:31","slug":"no-university-in-derry-londonderry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/articles\/explainers\/no-university-in-derry-londonderry\/","title":{"rendered":"No university in Derry\/Londonderry?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lord Adonis later acknowledged<\/a> that Derry\/Londonderry had its own campus as part of Ulster University, however its headquarters are in Coleraine. The university used to be called the New University of Ulster (NUU), which opened<\/a> 50 years ago, and could have been based in Derry\/Londonderry.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Screen image from film recorded by Bob Allard and commentary by Registrar, W. T. Ewing: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=94er6dfT4EA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The New University of Ulster<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1960s, there were calls for a second university in Northern Ireland. In the aftermath of the Robbins report<\/a> on the future of higher education in the UK, a committee led by classicist John Lockwood was introduced to investigate the needs of higher education in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four candidate sites were considered by Sir John Lockwood and his committee: Armagh, Coleraine; Craigavon (yet to be established), and Magee College in Derry\/Londonderry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee\u2019s report, released in the beginning of 1965, recommended establishing a second university and suggested Coleraine as the location, overlooking Magee College. The ins and outs of this story of this second university and the role of Magee College is described in a chapter of a book<\/a> written by Gerard O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controversy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Nationalists and Unionists<\/a> found the report\u2019s conclusion to be controversial. The University for Derry Action Committee (UDAC) was founded and organised a public protest demonstration at Stormont, supported<\/a> by the City and County Borough of Londonderry on 18 February 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, by 4 March 1965, after long discussions<\/a> with opposition outside and within the Unionist Party, the Northern Ireland Parliament endorsed the Government Statement<\/a> on the Lockwood report: \u201cThe Committee has recommended the Coleraine area as the most suitable location for the new university and the Government accepts this recommendation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about Magee College?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cabinet meeting<\/a> in January 1965 revealed that \u201ca straightforward acceptance of the Lockwood recommendations on Magee … would produce a storm which could capsize the entire Report\u201d. The Government Statement therefore states that Magee College should not \u201ccease to exist\u201d, and that they will look for \u201ca continuing use for the College within the field of higher education\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern Ireland\u2019s Attorney-General, Edward Jones, came from Derry\/Londonderry. He accepted Coleraine as the location for the new university, but proposed that some faculties<\/a> could be sited at Magee College. In 1969<\/a>, Magee College was incorporated in the NUU<\/a> and became the location for Continuing Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Screen image from film recorded by Bob Allard and commentary by Registrar, W. T. Ewing: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=94er6dfT4EA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why Coleraine?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lockwood report claimed that the Coleraine area \u201csatisfies our criteria better than any of the other areas considered\u201d. One of the main reasons given was that Magee College was considered too small<\/a> to maintain the required number of students and was ill suited for expansion. Coleraine could provide a 300 acre site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But others saw different reasons. Gerry Fitt MP used his maiden speech<\/a> in Westminster to say that \u201cin Londonderry, Catholics and Protestants banded together to have the university sited there\u201d, but \u201cthe only consideration which activated the minds of the Unionist powers in Northern Ireland was that two-thirds of the population of Londonderry were Catholics\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a documentary film about the construction of the Coleraine campus, recorded by Bob Allard and commentary by Registrar, W. T. Ewing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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