Athlone Institute of Technology

Athlone Institute of Technology is a higher education institution in the midlands of Ireland. The institution was established in 1970 as Athlone Regional Technical College.HistoryThe college operated under the management of County Westmeath Vocational Education Committee (VEC) from its establishment until 1993, when legislative changes established it as a self-governing entity. Five years later it underwent a name change by statutory order to Athlone Institute of Technology. The Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) granted the institute delegated authority in 2004 to develop, design, and validate its own courses, to conduct examinations, and to confer its own academic awards up to and including Level 9 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ).A high proportion of students are from overseas. This number split approximately evenly between European and non-European students, China being the largest source of international students. Recent agreements have been signed with the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to bring in more students.In the years since 2000, AIT has secured more than €23 million in research funding. This has been obtained from a broad range of national and international funding agencies, including the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Health Research Board (HRB), the Technological Sector Research (TSR) programme, as well as Enterprise Ireland’s Applied Research Enhancement Programme.