Offaly students graduate from Technological University of the Shannon

SARAH Murphy from Walsh Island and Rhode student Jennifer Groome were among over 3,800 students who recently graduated from Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).

They joined fellow Irish students and graduates from over 50 countries across the world in the TUS class of 2025.

This year’s graduates were among the first full cohort to complete their studies entirely within TUS, having joined the university soon after its establishment in 2021.

TUS comprises the former institutes of technology in Athlone and Limerick.

TUS President Professor Vincent Cunnane said: “We are living in a time of transformation — technological, environmental, political, and social. The impacts of climate change are no longer remote or abstract. They are visible in our communities, in our weather, in our economy, and in our collective awareness. Artificial intelligence is changing how we work, how we communicate, how we make decisions, and perhaps even how we see our world and our place in it. In such a world, it is easy to feel overwhelmed — to imagine that the challenges are too great, or that our individual efforts cannot make a difference. But that is not true.”

Professor Cunnane noted that, just as the world around it has grown and evolved, so too has TUS — with technological advances and artificial intelligence reshaping how we live, work, and think.

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“As a Technological University, TUS itself stands as an expression of courage — the courage to reimagine what higher education can be in 21st-century Ireland. What the world needs now — what Ireland needs now — is courage. Courage to act on what is right. Courage to think for yourself when noise and distraction are everywhere. Courage to listen, to engage, and to build bridges where others might build walls.”

He told that graduates that: “You have witnessed and contributed to the shaping of a new kind of university — one rooted in its regions, outward-looking in its ambitions, and driven by a belief that education is not just about personal success, but about shared progress.”

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has twice said TUS is the university with the highest graduate employability rates in Ireland.

Professor Cunnane said: “TUS graduates have the highest graduate employment rates in the entire country. This is not an accident — it is because employers know that you are not just qualified, but capable, adaptable, and ready to learn. You are part of a virtuous cycle — one that strengthens individuals, communities, and regions together. This is how education transforms not just lives, but places.”