Mary Immaculate College Shortlisted for Three Education Awards

Mary Immaculate College Shortlisted for Three Education Awards. Pictured: The Mary Immaculate College gate.

It was a great delight that we learned this week that Mary Immaculate College has been shortlisted for no less that than three Education Awards.

The Education Awards recognise, encourage and celebrate excellence in the third level education sector on the island of Ireland from both State and privately funded institutions.  The Award categories are designed to highlight the key areas that impact upon student performance and provide opportunities for educational institutions,  their employees and contributors to have their achievements recognised across the various important facets of their operations.

Mary Immaculate College beat off still competition to be shortlisted under the following categories; Best Student Experience; Best International College Achievement and Best Online Learning Experience for its LINC programme delivered through the LINC Consortium.

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MIC has long been recognised for the calibre of its programmes, which remain the most sought after in the country.  Recent HEA figures show MIC as having one of the highest retention rates (96%) in the country. The most distinctive aspect of student life at MIC is the emphasis that is placed on providing students with the best possible student experience.  This is achieved by placing the student at the centre of all activities; by providing a range of supports and opportunities that correspond to their individual and diverse needs, enabling them to enjoy a rich and rounded learning experience within a relaxed, harmonious environment in which to study.

MIC’s International Office, established in 2013, is charged with enhancing the College’s international identity and attracting international students to study at MIC.  The core mission of the International Office staff is to ensure that every student, incoming and outgoing, receive the absolute best student experience possible while at MIC. It was no surprise then when for the second time in three years MIC were the winners of the StudyPortals 2016 Outstanding International Student Satisfaction Award, an accolade that highlights the level of care MIC provides to its international students.

LINC, established in 2016, is a Level 6 Special Purpose Award (Higher Education) designed to enhance inclusion of children with additional needs in early years’ settings through the development of the role of Inclusion Coordinator. The programme, offered by a consortium led by Mary Immaculate College and including Early Childhood Ireland and Maynooth University, is part of a government commitment to the provision of high quality education and training in the field of early childhood care and education and was introduced as part of the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) in 2016. Running from September to June, the programme contains online and classroom based sessions in order to ensure a flexible and quality learning experience, enabling early years’ educators in full-time employment to attend this important continuing professional development (CDP) programme. While over 80% of the programme is delivered online, the classroom based sessions are offered in 9 regional centres in order to ensure access to practitioners across the country. The centres for 2017/18 are Cork; Dublin North; Dublin South/West; Galway; Kildare; Kilkenny; Limerick; Meath; & Sligo.

All entries to the Education Awards were assessed by an independent panel of recognised and expert judges including Robert O’Neill, Hibernia College; Dr Robert Butler, UCC; James O’Malley, Maynooth University; Stephen Easley-Walsh, Griffith College; Cllr Naoise O’Cearuil, Mayor of Maynooth, Larry Banville, IT Carlow and Dr Sean Rowland, Founder and President of Hibernia College.

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on May 25th.

To read more about Mary Immaculate College click here

To read more about competitions in Limerick click here