Durkan: 90% of university places in Belfast detrimental to Derry and the North

“Our universities need to be supported not only to grow but to evolve, providing cutting-edge courses and producing more creators of ideas, employment and wealth that can be retained locally.

"When I say ‘locally’, I mean ‘locally’. The concentration of around 90 per cent of university places in Belfast is not just detrimental to regional balance and the economic and social well-being of my constituency and constituents in Derry and many other areas across the North but holds Northern Ireland back,” said the SDLP MLA.

Mr. Durkan made the comments during a debate at Stormont on Tuesday.

He was speaking to a motion tabled by his constituency colleague, DUP MLA Gary Middleton, that called on the Economy Minister Conor Murphy ‘to set ambitious targets to grow the NI economy in this Assembly term, including through creating 5,000 new tech jobs’.