In deciding to honour founding Professor Roy Hayhurst, University of Limerick pays tribute not only to his exceptional creative leadership of the College of Business but also to all the members of the founding academic community with whom he worked. This tribute is overdue, for it was the founding academic community, with the support of the administrative, that pioneered the innovative structures and concepts that helped transform Irish higher education and resulted in the establishment of the first new university since the foundation of the State.
Unlike the administrative leadership, all members of the founding academic leadership bar one were non-nationals. They were sought out and recruited to Limerick to provide Ireland with the expertise essential to an Ireland attempting to build an open entrepreneurial, competitive economy that would improve the wellbeing of the community and stem rampant emigration. The first of the multinationals attracted to the Shannon Free Zone were unable to source Irish graduates with expertise in key areas of international business, engineering and the applied sciences and found it necessary to recruit abroad. The Planning Board decided to address this issue and attempt to recruit leadership with both the proven track record and academic credentials to do so.
Recruiting such expertise and talent in the early 70s was not assisted by the security situation, where violent conflict was spilling over from Northern Ireland into the Republic. It required more than a little courage, especially for those from Britain and Northern Ireland, to uproot their lives and move to what at the time was one of the more introverted, conservative and undeveloped parts of Europe.
It was most fortunate that the search identified exactly the person to address the challenge and provide leadership in the vital international business and marketing area: Roy Hayhurst. After graduating from University College London, Hayhurst worked in the pharmaceutical industry with responsibilities in market research and product management. He was recruited by the University of Bradford, where his research focused on new product development, innovation management and marketing, and he was involved in launching a new course in international business. Of particular interest was the fact that on several occasions, he delivered executive programmes at the Irish Management Institute and, as a result, had insights into the challenges Ireland was facing as it moved to abandon protectionism and create an open economy that was both attractive to inward investment and prepared for the opportunities of EEC membership.
In efforts to recruit Roy Hayhurst to Limerick, arrangements were made for meetings with senior executives at Shannon Development. These individuals helped convince Roy that there was a rare possibility of combining academic resources with development finance to create a new dynamic. In due course, this vision bore fruit in a range of joint ventures in which Roy played important roles, including the Innovation Centre, the Regional Management Centre and the National Technological Park.
The founding faculty and staff arrived at Plassey only a few months before the planned inaugural opening by the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, in September 1972. Roy agreed to chair a group to arrange the event. Those who learned of his plans were quite breath-taken by their scale and audacity: a specially charted train from Dublin, the largest marquee in the country, a keynote address by the Rector of the College of Europe at Bruges, a Grand Inaugural Ball featuring a European wine bar and a midnight cabaret, followed by dancing until 3 am to music by Mick Delahunty and his Orchestra. Limerick had never seen anything like this . . . nor had the Department of Education. Consternation broke out in Dublin when the plans were discovered, and a one-line letter was immediately dispatched to Limerick: ‘no public funds may be expended on the opening event.’ Consternation then transferred to Plassey House, which Hayhurst quelled by declaring that all should relax: he would raise the funds. This he did, to the considerable relief and much surprise of his colleagues, by securing business sponsorship for a fine inaugural brochure.
Roy’s inaugural event set the scene for a succession of successful, pioneering and, at times, equally breath-taking innovations in Irish higher education. His new Bachelor of Business Studies differed radically from the conventional Irish B Com, and its graduates were selectively sought after by employers. The programme’s academic standing was highlighted by the access links he built in New York with Fordham University’s MBA programme. At an early stage, the embryonic College of Business led the way in developing post-experience programmes for specialist sectors such as banking and An Garda Síochána. Later, under Roy’s guidance, a new MBA programme and pioneering programmes in international education were launched.
The ambition that Roy Hayhurst brought to building awareness and favourable attitudes towards NIHE were crucial, especially following a change of government in 1973, when responsibility for course recognition and academic awards was transferred to the National University of Ireland (NUI). NUI procedures were not always objective – and some of the NUI’s representatives sought to downgrade the status of NIHE. The ethos and very survival of the young institution were at risk. Considerable political skill was called for in building alliances and negating the activities of opponents. Roy played a vital role in this process, not only reaching solutions but using these to create new growth nodes.
Following a change of government and release from the damaging clutches of the NUI, the institution recovered and resumed its innovation and growth. Roy was looked to by his colleagues as a skilled strategist and negotiator. He agreed to lead a process to identify development options for securing university status. This helped guide the way to the designation of University of Limerick in 1989.
In addition to his service and achievements at Limerick, Roy Hayhurst made a significant contribution to the national education scene. He served as a member of the National Council for Educational Awards and Board of Studies and worked with many institutions in the roles of Course Accreditor and External Examiner.
It is fitting, and indeed long overdue, that University of Limerick should appropriately recognise the major contribution that Professor Hayhurst has made to Ireland and its community. The thousands of graduates who have benefitted from Roy Hayhurst’s pioneering work have helped transform the Irish economy from inward and protectionist to open and entrepreneurial. Ireland is no longer an impoverished, introverted backwater but one of the most open, competitive and prosperous countries in Europe.
Chancellor, I present to you Roy Hayhurst and ask that you confer upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Economic Science.