The head of the Waterford Institute of Technology says it's a logical next step for it to turn into a university.
W.I.T. wants to join forces with Carlow I.T. to boost their status making the first ever university in the South-East.
The bid, which will be launched in September, follows a similar move by I.T.s in Dublin which have decided to merge.
Willie Donnelly is the president of the Waterford Institute of Technology:
"This is a logical next step the big debate in 2000 was whether the institute should have PhD students at all today were competing international with the universities for funding were competing national for funding and were very succesful."
