Minister Kitt announces a further €6M for University partnerships

Minister of State for Overseas Development, Michael Kitt announced a further €6M funding for Partnerships between Irish & African Universities to carry out research and knowledge sharing on development issues. This amount increases the total budget for the five-year Programme of Strategic Cooperation between Irish Aid and Higher Education and Research Institutes (2007 – 2011) to €20.4 million. Minister Kitt made the announcement at the Irish Aid Third Level Conference ‘Development’s Futures’ at the National University of Ireland Galway during his speech in the O' hEocha Theatre. Making the announcement he said:

“Higher education institutions clearly have a pivotal role to play in research
on issues that can accelerate social and economic progress as we know from our
own experience here in Ireland. The increased allocation will allow us to
maximise the benefits of the research and knowledge from the Programme in
fighting poverty and exclusion in some of the world’s poorest countries. It is
also underlines our commitment to our partnership with the third level sector to
advance this work”.

A Copy of Minister Kitt's opening address can be found here.