Tag Archives: students

A SIGNIFICANT allocation of funding to assist third level institutions to reopen and help end the digital divide will benefit students in Clare, Deputy Joe Carey has said.  Deputy Carey said the €168 million package will ensure third level institutions have the necessary tools to return to education in a safe manner and ensure all students can access remote learning. The Clare Fine Gael TD said: “Throughout the pandemic, further and higher education never closed. Even during the most restricted period of the pandemic, institutions and providers continued to provide education through emergency remote learning. “We need to support them now as students seek to return in September. This significant financial package for our third level institutions will assist with their safe re-opening.” Students will receive new supports, he added. “In addition, significant further supports are being put in place for students, including increasing student supports, access to mental health services and a new scheme aimed at helping students with …

Jessica Quinn A REFUND of accommodation fees for University of Limerick students has been recommended by the university’s governing authority. This is welcome news for students, many from Clare, who had been forced to give up their campus accommodation after the Covid-19 crisis broke. A spokesperson for the University of Limerick has confirmed, “The University of Limerick Governing Authority has today (Tuesday) given a recommendation that UL subsidiary Plassey Campus Centre Ltd (PCC), which manages the student residences on campus, return rental income to the students who left their accommodation on foot of the government’s decision to close the university campus in March.” UL’s Governing Authority held a Special Meeting on Tuesday during which the refund of student rents was discussed. Plassey Campus Centre Ltd (PCC) is the licensor and a separate legal entity to the University, with the issue a matter for decision by PCC and not the Governing Authority. “Nonetheless, as PCC sought the views of Governing Authority …

SHANNON students have been reaching out to residents of a nursing home who are unable to have visitors, letting them know they are not alone during the Covid-19 crisis. More than 80 students of St Caimin’s secondary school have written letters to the residents of Carrigoran House nursing home in Newmarket-on-Fergus. Students of the school usually visit Carrigoran at Easter time, but because of restrictions surrounding the pandemic this annual event had to be cancelled. School chaplain Cora Guinnane said that the letter writing was “the next best thing” and the students at the school were delighted to get involved. Cora explained that she and another teacher saw a similar initiative being carried out at a nursing home in Cork which had been a great success. “We thought it would be a fantastic idea to do with our students. So  I put the call out to students and teachers who would like to participate and we had a fantastic response. …

SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland), has announced that its online application system, for new and renewal student grants, for the 2017/18 academic year is now open. SUSI is entering its sixth year of operations. Last year the national awarding body processed more than 105,000 applications with 83,000 students (new and renewal) receiving funding for the 2016/17 academic year. Graham Doyle, head of communications and customer service with SUSI,said,” would encourage students to visit our website, www.susi.ie, and review the eligibility criteria for student grant funding prior to making their applications. We have an online grant eligibility reckoner that enables students to answer a short set of questions following which they will be given an indication as to their eligibility for student grant funding. We also have a number of self-help tools available on our website, including videos and detailed guidance notes for making an application. Following the advanced processing of grant applications achieved by SUSI last year, we had awarded …

WITH students returning to college this week, NUI Galway Students’ Union has issued an urgent appeal to anyone with a spare room to consider renting it to students this year. Under the Rent a Room Scheme you can earn up to €12,000 per annum tax free by renting a room. The option is also available to just rent a room for one semester to a visiting student if homeowners are uncertain about getting into a long term arrangement. Students’ Union president Jimmy McGovern said, “The lack of accommodation in Galway City has now become a serious issue, putting access to education at risk for many students. We are inundated with queries from students looking for accommodation. In particular there is a huge amount of visiting students that will just be attending NUI Galway for one semester, September to December or January to May, who are desperately in need of accommodation. We would encourage anyone with a spare room to strongly …

GARDAÍ are advising the public to be vigilant in the wake of a recent student accommodation scam, which is being investigated. Crime prevention officer Sergeant Joe Downey highlighted a recent scam that has come to light, whereby rented accommodation is advertised on well-known internet sites targeting third level students. He explained the scam is primarily operating in areas where accommodation is available close to universities and other third level institutions. “A deposit is sought in advance and the advertiser indicates that the keys will be sent in advance, on receipt of the deposit, by a reputable delivery company. “In the students’ eagerness to secure the rented accommodation, they forward the deposit without seeing the property or meeting the landlord,” Sergeant Downey outlined. He said that when the money has cleared, no keys are sent and no further contact is made, with a resulting loss to the student.

FOUR Clare students have taken one giant leap by coming first in their category for a major international competition ran by NASA. The St Flannan’s students have come top in the senior small team category in the NASA/Ames Space Settlement Design contest. They now have a chance to present their ideas in front of an audience of scientists and those in the space industry at the International Space Development Conference in Puerto Rico next month. Some of the biggest names in space exploration will be at the five-day conference, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Eoghan Keane, Kieran Maher, Sean Donnelly and Jason Herbert designed a settlement for thousands of people in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. Their innovative design, orbiting around the dwarf planet Ceres, features agricultural, residential and industrial areas to support 10,000 people. The students worked with teachers John Conneely and Grainne O’Brien, with support from Michael Horgan, on the project. As well as facing …

Commemorations have taken place all over Europe this year, marking the centenary of the beginning of World War I. The Great War raged for more than four years, ending on November 11, 1918. On Tuesday, the anniversary of Armistice Day, Irish soldiers were remembered in South Galway. Commemorative badges, manufactured and designed by students in Gort Community School, were distributed at a ceremony of remembrance, as students and staff recalled the forgotten Irish volunteers. Young people in fourth year conducted a project with the goal of remembering the 150,000 Irish who fought in the war. Their project was cross-curricular taking in a number of subjects and departments. “As part of the project, they looked for a symbol to represent the volunteers but the only symbol they came across was the poppy. Many of the class were unhappy to use the poppy, as they felt they wanted to have something original that would remember just the Irish,” explained history teacher and …