AN island based university feeding degree qualified students into the IT sector and related industries is the vision of three local businessmen who are now appealing for funding to help make the project a reality.
David Butterworth of Skanco Professional IT Services along with Ron Berry and Kurt Roosen plan to take over the former Castle Mona Hotel in Douglas, which has lain empty since its closure more than five years ago to set up their new information and computer technology university.
‘We would be offering degrees in computer science. There would be different variants but it would specialise in ICT. In the UK at the moment there is no ICT specific university. whereas here everything would be focused around ICT,’ he said.
But to make the project a reality funding to the tune of around £2.5m will be needed, principally to furnish and equip the building and get the courses up and running.
‘Once we have raised the funds, the building will be refurbished and we will then lease it,’ he said.
Initial plans are for a ten year lease at £500,000 per year which has been guaranteed by the government.
The university will have charitable status so any profits will feed back in to the university and it has already attracted support from businesses which have pledged £5,000 per annum each over a three year period.
Part of the planned refurbishment will provide about 70 rooms for students and it would also see the demolition of a later addition to the building which was used as the bowling alley.
Mr Butterworth said he was keen to see the island enjoy all the benefits which come from having a vibrant student population. Initially he said they were aiming for 100 students in their first academic year which is scheduled to be 2014-15, rising to around 1,000 students after five years.
‘A student population carries great benefits for an area. The Times calculated the average spend of a student per annum was around £4,300 so that’s potentially a lot of money into the local economy.’ He envisages around 80 per cent of students being from off island - from the UK or overseas - and the remainder being local. To offer the degree he said they had coupled up with the Open University who will be the awarding body for the qualification.
‘The advantage of that is it is a good degree and it has world-wide recognition,’ he said.
‘It’s also worth remembering the huge positive impact on the Isle of Man of having 1,000 bright young people here. Apart from what they spend here, a certain percentage will stay here and feed into the employment sector in finance, e-gaming and so on.
‘And from an alumni point of view, the students will be good ambassadors for the Isle of Man. The island is a safe place to be so that should be popular with parents too. You only have to look at the vibrancy of places like Dublin, just across the water where ICT companies have been attracted to set up business because there are graduate level students there coming out of university ready to be recruited,’ he said.
For anyone interested in discussing the project further or offering support Mr Butterworth can be contacted on 493391.
