Initiative Lead
Mary Immaculate College

Primary Contact
Dr. Emma O'Brien
emma.obrien@mic.ul.ie

€47,500

Student Success

EU policy emphasises the importance of citizenship education and bridging education with professional and societal contexts. It advocates a collaborative approach to education that involves embedding civic engagement and wider partnership with society and the community into education. This initiative will extend current curricula beyond MIC into the community and society. Its rationale is underpinned by the National Forum’s findings on students’ view of excellent teaching in which ‘Students want their higher education experience to connect with the ‘real world’…..’. This initiative will enhance the student learning experience by complementing existing learning with opportunities for authentic learning and providing opportunities for learners to apply their discipline specific skills to address civic and societal concerns while developing transversal skills. It relates to the national funding call criteria by providing students with the opportunity to fulfil their potential and become creators of new knowledge who are community engaged, ethically conscious, professionally competent and equipped to flourish in a global world. The initiative will explore best practice regarding open education, current approaches to civic engagement in MIC and how they can be embedded in Arts curricula within MIC programmes. It will provide CPD to staff on open pedagogies. The model will be evaluated with staff and students to explore the impact of open pedagogies on student engagement.