It will take around five years for Derry's Magee campus of Ulster University to reach 6,500 students, following a funding boost from the Irish government.
That is according to Professor Paul Bartholomew, vice chancellor of Ulster University, who said current student numbers at Magee sit at 5,242.
The expansion of Magee has been a demand from campaigners in Derry for decades, with calls for student numbers to rise to a minimum of 10,000 dating back to the 1960s.
Read more: Ulster University's Magee campus gets €56 million funding boost from Irish government
And that target was included in the New Decade, New Approach agreement struck in January 2020 to restore the Northern Ireland Executive following the three-year break in devolved government.
Some progress has been made in that direction in recent years, with the opening of a Medical School in 2021 providing a small boost to student numbers and a 'centre of healthcare excellence' attracting over 900 students in recent months.
On Tuesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the government in Dublin would put forward €44.5 million to build a new teaching and student services building at Ulster University’s Derry campus, as part of a €56 million 'shared island' project.
The expansion plans will see a substantial increase on current student numbers at Magee, but will still fall far short of the 10,000 target as set out in New Decade New Approach.
Professor Paul Bartholomew, vice chancellor of Ulster University, told BBC Radio Foyle: "At the moment we've got, at the last census, 5,242 students. This announcement, alongside other things that we'll do on the campus will take us to 6,500."
He continued: "I think five years is the sort of period we're looking at. It doesn't all happen at once, of course. We will grow within the current envelope of buildings that we've got. I think we've got to find some timetabling efficiencies to accommodate those students but we've got a number of programmes that we're bringing on line in sequence, and we need to continue with that sequence."
The Irish government funding will cover 85% of the total cost of the expansion plans, Professor Bartholomew explained, with the other 15% - equating to over £6.7 million - coming from the university's own budget.
"We've got a capital build which will proceed through planning," he told the broadcaster. "We've got outline architectural drawings for that. We will try to progress that building project as soon as possible and, as our funds are required, we will deploy them. It might be at the early part of the project, it might be during the project."
Professor Bartholomew also insisted that "absolutely, categorically" the money pledged on Tuesday by the Irish government will be spent on the expansion of the Magee campus alone, rather than being spread across campuses elsewhere in Northern Ireland.
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