Heaney urges support for Queen’s University

Seamus Heaney has backed an ambitious campaign by Queen’s University Belfast to raise £150 million by 2011 in order to pay for a massive expansion and upgrade plan of the existing facilities in the university’s structure.

The Campaign for Queen’s, the most ambitious fundraising campaign ever attempted in Ireland and one of the most ambitious in the United Kingdom, took off at an event on Wednesday November 8 in the University’s Great Hall.

Nobel Prize winner Dr Seamus Heaney, a former QUB student and staff member, read a poem specially composed for the occasion entitled “For Alma Mater”. Speaking at the launch about his affinity with QUB Dr Heaney said he had been given more by his alma mater than he ever could have imagined.

The campaign has been launched to ensure that the University continues to compete at a global level in research, teaching and learning, and will offer future generations of students the highest standard of facilities. It combines support for academic initiatives with improvements in the physical environment that will benefit the community at large.

The projects for which the University intends to raise funding include: a new student centre, known as Lanyon II, which is the most advanced project to date with a start date of 2003; a new library which will support the University’s primary functions of research, teaching and learning, and will incorporate technology that will place it at the leading edge of the information revolution; a student village at the Queen’s Elms site offering modern, purpose-built accommodation for around 1,800 students, and new academic initiatives including chairs to attract the world’s best research talent to Belfast.

Speaking at the launch Vice-Chancellor Professor Bain said: “Just as we are proud of our past and our present, we are passionate about our future. We have created a great University – now we must sustain it. The Campaign for Queen’s will enable our community to compete with the best around the globe by giving our students the tools they need to maximise their potential in an environment that encourages international excellence.”

Chairman of The Queen’s University of Belfast Foundation Dr Allen McClay, Students’ Union President John Mackell and Deputy President Emma Little also addressed the gathering of around 200 guests. (AMcE)