Magee has courses that are not offered on other university campuses yet Protestants are under-represented there

Undergraduate/ Postgraduate

Full time/Part time/FT/ PT

Protestant 21.3%; 17.0%; 9.7%; 20.7%

Catholic 64.3%; 59.4%; 38.7%; 51.1%

Other/won’t say 14.4%; 23.7%; 51.7%; 28.3%

Magee has had a consistently poor record of attracting Protestant students in recent decades. This is not surprising. There are few Protestants living on the West Bank of the Foyle.

My own research, based on the records of the Derry Catholic Registration Association and the NI Census, indicate that the Protestant population on the West Bank has fallen by at least 10,000 since the 1960s. Ethnic cleansing and terrorism took its toll. That side of the river is today the focus of dissident republican activity.

What makes this poor record particularly problematical is when courses are launched at Magee which are not available on other campuses.

In October, Magee announced that the first degree-level apprenticeship in…