The Government has approved a move seeking to advance university designation for the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI).
An approved status for the RCSI would mean the institution could finally be recognised both in Ireland as well as abroad as a university.
Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor said: “The RCSI has for over 200 years, played a significant and important role in medical education and training in Ireland. Until now, legislative restrictions prevented the RCSI from calling itself a university in Ireland despite permission to describe itself as a ‘university of medicine and health science’ abroad.”
The use of the word ‘university’ is reserved by legislative and regulatory frameworks and a change in the legislation has to be approved by the Oireachtas. The present situation allowed the RCSI to describe itself as a university only outside Ireland.
