Growing from a student body of 40 women a century ago to one of nearly 1,600 of both sexes today, Mary Immaculate College has seen many changes along the way. Its focus has changed from only primary teaching to take in a degree in liberal arts, and it is now linked to the University of Limerick, following a time as a recognised college of the National University of Ireland.
All the time it has stayed on the same 25acre site in Limerick city, and while there have been substantial additions, the original buildings are still in use.
The college was founded in 1898 by Bishop Edward O'Dwyer and the Limerick Sisters of Mercy for "the advancement of Catholic Education, especially the noble tradition of Teacher Training". From the start, the students lived in.
In 1922 huge changes came with national independence, and the college enthusiastically took up the new task of training teachers as Gaeilge, since the language and culture were already firmly on its agenda. The next big change was becoming coeducational in 1969. At the time, the training course was a two-year one; the last two-year course finished in 1974.
"The college was very progressive, and staff travelled in America and Europe to study new ideas for the degree," the registrar, Tony Bromell, recalls. Another innovation was the academic study of a specialist subject, along with education, right through to degree stage. This continues today.
Not long afterwards, though, Mary I (as it is affectionately known) hit the same rock of falling pupil numbers that affected all Irish teacher training. In the late 1980s, the number of students plummeted to 300. Mary I has robustly recovered from that setback. The number of B.Ed students has grown again, and the introduction of a degree in liberal arts and postgraduate degrees has contributed substantially to growth.
Today, there are about 600 B.Ed students, 800 BA, and 175 graduate-diploma, master's and doctoral students.
The BA course built on the many arts subjects already being taught in Mary I, with the addition of religious studies and media and communication studies. Wired 103 FM, the student radio station for Mary I, UL and the Limerick Institute of Technology, is a big bonus in terms of the opportunities it offers, according to the coordinating head of arts, Dr John Hayes.
As part of the link to UL, members of the arts departments are on the faculty board of the university's college of humanities. Both degrees are awarded by UL.
The residential requirement is long gone, of course, but there are 119 student study bedrooms in great demand. The formal religious links remain, though, with the Catholic Bishop of Limerick as chairman of the board of trustees and members of the Mercy order on the board.
Perhaps one of the biggest changes is the huge drop in the percentage of religious on the staff. In the late 1960s, there were only two lay staff. Today, of about 100 staff, only a handful are religious, including the president, Sister Mary Angela Bugler, who is a member of the Mercy order.
As President, she sums it up: "Anchored firmly in tradition and clear in its identity, Mary Immaculate College crosses the threshold of the 21st century, confident in its ability to meet whatever challenges, changes and uncertainties the new millennium may bring."
