Winners All Round for Mary Immaculate College
Last Thursday evening (21 February) was a night of great celebration for Mary Immaculate College as they walked away yet again with two prestigious awards at The Education Awards 2019.
MIC was the winner of the International College Achievement Award and was also part of the winning consortium that won the Student Engagement & Communications Award for its Leadership in Inclusion in the Early Years (LINC) Programme at the ceremony held in the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin.
Launched in 2017, The Education Awards recognise, encourage and celebrate excellence in the third level education sector in Ireland. The award categories are designed to highlight the key areas that impact upon student performance and provide opportunities for educational institutions, their employees and contributors to have their achievements recognised across the various important facets of their operations.
MIC’s International Office was awarded with the International College Achievement Award, the second time it has received this award. MIC has a vibrant international community, collaborating with more than 50 partner universities and colleges in Europe, North America and Australia, and hosting over 200 international students annually. More recently, MIC was awarded a coveted contract with the Brazilian Government Scholarship Agency, CAPES, to host the top 30 teachers in Brazil each year for the next three years whereby the teachers will undertake a one-year Graduate Diploma in Mentoring & Leadership in Education, a specially-designed postgraduate programme with modules on mentoring, school leadership and global perspectives on education, at MIC.
Accepting the award Holly Cowman, Director of the International Office said: “The International Office is delighted to accept this award on behalf of the entire MIC community. We have professional services staff, faculty and a students’ union that are unmatched in terms of the warm welcome and ongoing pastoral care that international students receive here, while being fully integrated in all aspects of College life. These students all make a profound contribution to our community.
A high quality education, built on a long tradition of commitment to excellence, comes as part of a package that includes a friendly, safe, English-speaking environment, which really nurtures students coming here from all over the world.”
Further information on international study opportunities available at MIC here.
Pictured above (L-R): Cepta Kennedy and Breeda Cahill, International Relations Executives, MIC and Holly Cowman, Director of the International Office.
The award for Student Engagement & Communications went to the LINC Consortium, a Level 6 Special Purpose Award (Higher Education) programme led by MIC and including Early Childhood Ireland and Maynooth University – Froebel Department, designed to support the inclusion of children with additional needs in the early years
Accepting the award Fintan Breen, LINC National Programme Coordinator said: “I am delighted to have accepted this award for the LINC Programme which recognises the positive effects of the collaboration between all three members of the consortium. It is a testament to the work of the full team – from our programme designers to our tutors and support staff who have brought a wide range of academic, instructional design, ICT, and student support expertise to the programme.”
Prof. Emer Ring, Dean of Education, MIC acknowledged that “this award further affirms the commitment to the focus on ‘quality’ that propels all early childhood care and education programmes at MIC and highlights the benefits of the College’s goal to develop research partnerships and share expertise with colleagues both nationally and internationally.”
The LINC programme, which in 2017 won the Best Online Learning Experience Award and in 2018 won the Jennifer Burke Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, is part of a government commitment to the provision of high quality education and training in the field of early childhood care and education and was introduced as part of the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) in 2016. While over 80% of the programme is delivered online, the classroom based sessions are offered in nine regional centres in order to ensure access to practitioners across the country. The LINC programme will open for applications for 2019/20 on March 4 with Information Sessions currently taking place around the country in association with local County Childcare Committees. Further information here.
Pictured below (L-R): Fintan Breen, Fintan Breen, LINC National Programme Coordinator; Seona Stapleton, Educational Technologist, LINC; Anna Barr, LINC Tutor; Dermot Comerford, Marketing & Communications Executive, LINC; Prof. Emer Ring, Dean of Education, MIC (second to last on right) and Teresa Heeney, CEO of Early Childhood Ireland (last on right).
