University College Cork

University College Cork, Ireland

University College Cork (UCC), established in 1845, is a comprehensive public university and part of the National University of Ireland. UCC is an active member of the Irish University Associations Campus Engage initiative and is a signatory to the Campus Engage Charter for Higher Education Civic and Community Engagement. The University Civic and Community Engagement Committee promotes civic engagement and social responsibility at UCC. We offer three across-university courses in Science in Society; Sustainability; and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Social Justice, Equality, Diversity & Health; which are open to all students to develop their civic competencies.

Community-Academic Research Links (CARL): Promotes student led community engaged research (CBR) and learning (CBL). Based on the European Science Shop model, CARL invites non-profit voluntary or community organisations to suggest potential research topics that are researched in collaboration with students across a range of academic disciplines. Students co-learn with the community and their research reports are made freely available to the public in an open access manner on the CARL website. UCC’s CARL Research often receives attention from policy makers.

Green Campus Programme UCC is located in Cork City and is the world’s first green flag campus, a student led initiative. The programme promotes sustainable citizenship and stewardship. Through the UCC Works programme, students receive credits by participating in approve activities as a volunteer or intern for a minimum of 40 hours across waste/recycling, biodiversity, energy and climate, sustainable food, sustainable transport, water resources, and much more.

Learning Neighborhoods Partnership Programme: UCC ofers Adult Continuing Education (ACE) opportunities to the region since 1946. It is a key partner in the Cork UNESCO City of Learning initiative with Cork City Council. The third International Conference on Learning Cities will be held in Cork in September 2017. Each year, UCC co-organises an annual Lifelong Learning Festival. In addition, the Learning Neighbourhoods programme works with communities to showcase existing and develop new opportunities for lifelong learning in their areas. UCCPLUS  also works with 32 schools across the region to support students, who would not traditionally go to University, with educational assistant to enhance their ability to compete for University places.

The Quercus programme offers scholarships for exceptional contributions to Citizenship, Community Engagement. A wide range of civic activities are led by students through the UCC Student Union and societies. Each college at UCC promotes civic initiatives such as the Family Law Clinic in the college of Business and Law; the Cork Folklore Project in the College of Arts, Celtic studies and Social Sciences; the Schools programme  in the college of Engineering and Food Science and the Teddy Bear Hospital in the college of Medicine and Health.