‘I urge Ulster University to allocate an additional MaSN to the Magee campus’

This was the solution proposed by Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin who said it would help develop a full-sized university in Derry. She made the proposal during an emergency sitting of Stormont on Tuesday to discuss the controversy over the awarding of A-Level grades to school leavers.

Universities, having offered places to students who got their required grades from a CCEA algorithm, are now inundated with successful applicants after an under pressure Education Minister Peter Weir decided teachers’ grades should be used instead, the SDLP MLA noted.

She added: “I urge Ulster University to allocate an additional MaSN to the Magee campus. It remains a scandal that Northern Ireland’s second city does not have a full-sized university campus. The SDLP will not rest until that is achieved. That is a pledge that we make in memory of John Hume.”