Crossing the binary divide

The Dublin Institute of Technology is joining with two other Dublin institutes in a bid to become Ireland’s first technological university. It’s an exciting transformation, but not without significant challenges, says John Donovan.

Europe has traditionally had a binary higher education system, which consists of institutions either based on theory (knowledge production) or practice (knowledge exploitation). Although the boundaries are becoming increasingly porous, the distinction still stands.

In Ireland, as elsewhere, this binary division has seen traditional universities as the seats of knowledge, and institutes of technology as users of knowledge that solve problems for industry or others.