Oral history interview of Edward Walsh

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Context

Edward M. Walsh is the Founding President of the University of Limerick established by Ireland in 1989. He headed the institution from its inception as the National Institute for Higher Education Limerick, in 1970, when he was appointed as Chairman of the Planning Board, and Director, through its transformation to a university in 1989, when he was appointed President, until his retirement in 1998, when he was awarded the title of “Founding President” for life.

Description:

This sixty-eight-minute long oral history interview was conducted by the Digital Repository of Ireland as part of The Atlantic Philanthropies archive project (2017-2020) titled Amplifying change: A history of the Atlantic Philanthropies on the island of Ireland in 2020., In this interview Edward Walsh talks about this education in Ireland where he studied electrical engineering at University College Cork and the United States, where he achieved a doctorate in nuclear engineering at Iowa State University. He gives insight to his comparisons of Irish and American education systems arguing that the segregated education system led to the tension in Ireland and that Ireland’s education programme lacked leadership, science, engineering, and language skills. He talks about developing the National Institute of Higher Education into Limerick University and mentions the World Bank Funding, European Investment Bank funding and investment from The Atlantic Philanthropies as crucial milestones. He elaborates on relationships with Sean O’Conner who was appointed by the Minister of Education Donogh O’Malley to develop education in Ireland, and his relationship with Chuck Feeney whose investment in building relationship with Iveagh League Cornell University led to overcome political barriers to create Limerick University in the late 1980s., and This recording contains the personal views of the participants, they do not reflect the views of the DRI.

Type:

audio and oral histories (literary works)

Creator:

Digital Repository of Ireland, 2015 -

Subject:

Curated collection--Oral histories, Curated collection--Education, Curated collection--Infrastructure, Atlantic Philanthropies (Organization), University of Limerick Foundation, Curated collection--Edward Walsh, Grant 21250, Grant 07061, Laboratory facilities, Research buildings, Music-halls, Art galleries, and Charity organization

Grant:

Grant 21250 and Grant 07061

Grantee:

University of Limerick Foundation

Year of Grant:

1990 and 2012

Location of Grantee:

Limerick

Rights:

Copyright is with DRI and Edward Walsh. Please see license for reuse.

Attribution:

Digital Repository of Ireland and The Atlantic Philanthropies

Doi:

https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.7s75t1555