Fuure of Irish third level education

Raspberry Fileds

The president of NUI Maynooth, which is rebranding as Maynoooth University (how long before Galway also drops the initials?), has said that the university intends to reduce the number of "entry routes" (ie courses) from fifty to "at most, twenty ... perhaps fifteen".

"Under the planned new curriculum for Maynooth, first year students from September 2015 will be able to sample different modules across faculties and then "progressively specialise". The reforms include greater emphasis on work experience and volunteering off-campus, and a new model of assessment that will evaluate critical thinking and communications skills."

The proposed curriculum is broadly similar to the "Liberal Arts" model in the States whereby students do not chose their major until second or third year, and can decide what modules to take from across all faculties (provided they've meet prerequisites - eg elementary calculus before advanced), with each major having required-modules.

The reason I start the thread is that this is likely to largely be the model that other Irish universities follow. The rationale is that points are artificially inflated and likely to fluctuate when the intake for each course is small, and combining multiple courses - some of which only differ slightly: BESS in TCD is 495 and PPES is 540, yet students in both will have the exact same Politics, Sociology, Economics, and Statistics lectures in first year, and, provided one drops Philosophy from second year on, they effectively become the same course - into a single entry would combat that (as well as allowing students to delay when they select their major (which could lead to reduction in drop-out rate).

I'm writing this on a phone, so I'll include a link or two and chip in my opinion when I'm at a computer.

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Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

The president of NUI Maynooth, which is rebranding as Maynoooth University (how long before Galway also drops the initials?), has said that the university intends to reduce the number of "entry routes" (ie courses) from fifty to "at most, twenty ... perhaps fifteen".

"Under the planned new curriculum for Maynooth, first year students from September 2015 will be able to sample different modules across faculties and then "progressively specialise". The reforms include greater emphasis on work experience and volunteering off-campus, and a new model of assessment that will evaluate critical thinking and communications skills."

The proposed curriculum is broadly similar to the "Liberal Arts" model in the States whereby students do not chose their major until second or third year, and can decide what modules to take from across all faculties (provided they've meet prerequisites - eg elementary calculus before advanced), with each major having required-modules.

The reason I start the thread is that this is likely to largely be the model that other Irish universities follow. The rationale is that points are artificially inflated and likely to fluctuate when the intake for each course is small, and combining multiple courses - some of which only differ slightly: BESS in TCD is 495 and PPES is 540, yet students in both will have the exact same Politics, Sociology, Economics, and Statistics lectures in first year, and, provided one drops Philosophy from second year on, they effectively become the same course - into a single entry would combat that (as well as allowing students to delay when they select their major (which could lead to reduction in drop-out rate).

I'm writing this on a phone, so I'll include a link or two and chip in my opinion when I'm at a computer.

Personally, i'm all for it. I actually attend NUI Maynooth or Maynooth University which it is now officially known as, and I believe this is a step in the right direction for Irish Universities.

I'm an individual who started studying a BBL Business, Economics and Law degree when I first started College in NUIM in 2012, realised it wasn't for me, transferred to a B.A. degree, chose Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy, competed for a place in Psychology, obtained it and am now entering my final year of a B.A. Single Honours Degree in Psychology.

I hadn't a NOTION what to do after the LC. I was a pretty good student, obtained 530 points, but was evenly good at each subject, I had no 'standout' aptitude for any subject and hadn't a huge passion for anything, given my relatively young age and inexperience.

Now that i'm in my final year, after sampling 6 subjects in first year nonetheless, i've finally found what I want to do within the field of Academia and I couldn't be happier with how things turned out.

Moving towards a more integrative academic environment is the way the Education system in Ireland needs to go, very few individuals fresh out of LC will have a clear path of what they want to do, will end up accepting a course they don't really have any passion for, find it difficult and drop out, hence the large drop-out rates, i've seen it happen year after year (and almost happened to myself)

If given the opportunity to sample a wider range of subjects and disciplines, it becomes easier to find ones niche and therefore remain within the Education system, in my opinion.

I'm absolutely 100% behind the notion, I hope it comes into effect as soon as possible and other universities and IT's follow suit