Dublin City University is the capital's newest and has grown a lot in its 12 years. Janet Stafford reports.
Dublin City University is a relatively young university. It has been in existence for 21 years, previously as the National Institute for Higher Education, until it received university status 12 years ago and DCU was born.
While some colleges trade on tradition, DCU prides itself on its excellent standards of education and on consistently being in the top two universities in recent years as regards graduates entering employment.
Over the past 12 years DCU's growth has been positively exponential. A concrete example of this is the new £17.5 million library.
The previous library now houses the college information technology (IT) services. Judging from the sophisticated and prolific IT, facilitating all the research, study and communication on campus, the IT crew must need a substantial building, but if you compare the old library to the new it seems like a rowing boat next to the Titanic.
Standing on campus on a crisp winter afternoon, the silhouette of the new library against the north Dublin sky is stunning. All around the campus is a hive of activity. The Drama Soc are outside the Hub bar in the students' centre hawking tickets for DCU's "First ever panto! Cinderellish!" - the banter goes back and forth.
Some students are relaxing in the old bar playing pool. Outside by the sports centre multimedia MA students, putting together a marketing package for schools liaison, are taking digital pictures of the striking buildings and structures around campus. Inside the sports centre trampolinists are trampolining and the climbing walls are being scaled. Down in the new library groups of students gather around computers in collaborative study areas, others sit with their heads down trying to get the last stretch of exam study covered.
Last year, in this newspaper, the president of DCU, professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski wrote, "Universities are not monuments, but living institutions with a vital social purpose." DCU is home to many impressive buildings, not least the arts centre, set to become the new home to the RTÉ Concert Orchestra on its completion later this year, but these are not monuments in the sense of remote ivory towers. They house numerous research centres, like the invent centre which helps students with entrepreneurial ideas to turn them into feasible ventures, student accommodation for up to 700 students with first¨-years having priority in gorgeous, modern undergraduate units, an inter-faith centre, bright, airy laboratories and all the bookshops, banks, shops, launderette and bars to make this campus a self-sufficient little community.
DCU offers 40 courses for full-time undergraduate study through seven schools or faculties. There are around 6,000 full-time undergraduate students. Ita Tobin, student recruitment officer and a former communications student at DCU, is a walking advertisement for the college as she enthuses about the opportunities which exist to tempt prospective undergraduates.
"The BSc in sports science and health is unique to DCU. The facilities are amazing for the course, so good in fact that whenever visitors come here they end up mesmerised with that area and sometimes forget to look at other things!" Tobin says.
DCU has an excellent reputation for close ties to business and industry. The vast majority of students have the opportunity to take part in the INTRA programme, a period of paid work-placement in a business relevant to their particular field of study. Due to this link, DCU is perfectly placed to keep up to date with work practice and industry and translate that to course content. "Due to our relatively recent university status we are extremely vigilant about keeping the highest academic standards in course syllabi while keeping content fresh and cutting edge," says Tobin.
"Our commitment to Erasmus means students have the opportunity to study in some of the most highly respected universities in Europe," she says. "Studying through the language of the country they're in is an invaluable opportunity for science, business and communications students." Links across disciplines like science and languages are encouraged in undergraduate study.
The college also has strong links and partnerships with colleges in the US and Japan, so study opportunities also exist there.
DCU has an impressive list of achievements on the sports and societies side to counter all the study. There are 47 sports clubs in the college including Ireland's only parachute ski club.
In her job, what questions do school-leavers most frequently ask Ita Tobin?
"Students ask about accessibility, because we aren't in the city centre," she says. "That isn't a problem - there are so many buses and feeder buses from main train stations - besides, we have everything here we need. The accommodation office is terrific in helping those who aren't in campus accommodation to find somewhere suitable."
The Access Service helps students from under-represented groups, who may be disadvantaged in some way, to gain entry. Accessibility for disabled students on campus is impressive. There are a number of adapted student residences, Braille lettering on door plaques to identify rooms and ramps and lifts to make all levels in all buildings wheelchair-accessible.
Tobin testifies to the excellent career counselling and personal tutor system from her own experience.
"I realised after two years that the business course I was doing wasn't for me. The guidance and support I got was second to none and when I changed to communications, I took to it like a duck to water," she says.
"I loved my college experience here and I really enjoy being back because I know it's a great university."
For more information on DCU look up the website at www.dcu.ie or contact the egistry at (01) 700 5338
