Atlantic Technological University campuses this year look set to secure additional staff.

Universities nationally will be hiring more than 1,500 new permanent staff this year in an effort to improve student-staff ratios.

The development in staffing numbers, comes as the Government is set  to end recruitment restrictions which were imposed on the sector since 2010.

A total of 1,562 posts will be shared across the third level sector with Atlantic Technological University likely to get the single biggest increase with 192 additional staff being recruited.

Student-staff ratios are about 23:1 in Ireland, according to latest figures, compared to a European norm of 15:1