Dublin, Wednesday 22 November 2017: The IUA has announced that Jim Miley has been appointed to its newly created role of Director General. Mr. Miley has extensive experience across a variety of commercial and public-sector roles and brings a wealth of organisational and marketing experience to the IUA at a time of significant change and challenge for the seven Irish universities that the IUA represents.
In his most recent role as Business to Consumer Director of The Irish Times, he led the successful launch and development of its digital subscription service. He was Project Director of the government funded Gathering 2013, following a decade as co-founder and CEO of MyHome.ie. He was previously General Secretary of Fine Gael and Chief Executive of Dublin Chamber of Commerce, having started his career as a producer / reporter at RTE.
As IUA Director General, Jim will lead the process of developing and enhancing the position of universities as key agents of growth and influence in the Irish economy and the social and cultural life of the country. Securing a viable and sustainable model for the future funding of third level, in partnership with government and other stakeholders, will be a key focus. This is against the backdrop of under-investment while the sector prepares for as much as 30% increase in demand for student places between now and 2030.
Commenting on the appointment, Chairman of the IUA and President of Maynooth University, Philip Nolan said: “We are delighted to appoint a Director General of such skill and experience and look forward to working with him to place the Irish university system amongst the best in Europe. We are fortunate as a nation that all seven of our universities are in the top 600 in the world, and the decisions we make in the next ten years are critical to ensuring our universities maintain the highest international standards and serve the needs of this and future generations.”
Jim Miley said: “I am excited to take up the challenge of leading the IUA at this pivotal period of change in the third level sector. I believe the problems faced by the sector can be overcome if all stakeholders – government, industry, students, the universities themselves and their staff – work together to realise the ambition for our universities to rival the best in Europe. If, collectively, we can now take the decisive steps to shape the future of our university sector, the long-term impact for the country will be immense.”
Professor Nolan also paid tribute to the outgoing CEO of the Irish Universities Association, Ned Costello, whose term of office comes to an end in December: “Ned has made an exceptional contribution to the development of the university sector over the last decade, supporting us collectively through some very difficult times. He has built the Irish Universities Association into a strong organization with the talent and capacity to deliver on a challenging agenda, a very important asset for our university system.”
Jim Miley takes up his position in early January 2018.
For further information contact lia.osullivan@iua.ie
Background information: The Irish Universities Association is the representative body for the seven universities in Ireland. They are University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, Maynooth University, NUI Galway, University of Limerick, University College Cork.