The Connacht-Ulster Alliance (CUA) consortium comprising Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Sligo, submitted an application to become a technological university to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, T.D., on 21 May 2021.

An international advisory panel was appointed by the Minister to review the application and provide a recommendation as to whether the application for TU status should be granted under Section 36 of the Technological Universities Act, 2018. The Panel undertook an assessment of the application virtually in July 2021.

The Minister considered the recommendation of the Advisory Panel alongside the supporting views of the Higher Education Authority and in October 2021 the Minister confirmed his decision to grant the application.

Atlantic Technological University was established on 1 April 2022. It became the fourth technological university in the State, following the establishment of TU Dublin on 1 January 2019, Munster TU on 1 January 2021, and TU Shannon: Midlands Midwest on 1 October 2021.