Hello and Welcome to the Autumn edition of the Access Centre Newsletter. First let me say congratulations to the 204 HEAR Students and 124 DARE students who commenced their course in UCD this September. It is hard to think we are over half way through semester one already! I am delighted to say the number of students entering UCD through the two schemes continues to grow annually.

Access Centre Orientation activities went very well this year for all HEAR, DARE and Mature Students. Maths Hot Topics for Mature students was a new development which was very well received by students. Read on to find out more from Ronan Murphy, Mature student Adviser.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome a new member of the Access Team, Dr. Lisa Padden on board. She is responsible for the Learning Support needs of students with a disability. She has certainly hit the ground running and has rolled out a suite of group based Learning support workshops for first year students. This group based model is enhanced by an accompanying online Blackboard module.

The Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) and the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) Scheme won a Taoiseach’s Public Service Excellence Awards during the summer and myself and Anne Lavelle were lucky to be in attendance at Dublin Castle on 21st June when the Taoiseach Enda Kenny presented the awards.

Access Centre Outreach Officer, Anne Lavelle will be starting HEAR/DARE School visits to link schools in the forthcoming weeks. I would also like to draw your attention to the HEAR/DARE application clinics which will be held on Saturday 12th January 2013. The HEAR/DARE application clinics are nationwide so please check accesscollge.ie for venues and time.

If you would like to contact us for further details on an item featured in the newsletter please email us at accesscentre@ucd.ie

Thanks for your interest in the programme and enjoy this edition of UCD Access Centre News!

Fiona Sweeney, Access Centre Manager

UCD Access Centre NewsAutumn 2012

www.ucd.ie/openingworlds/accesscentre

Taoiseachs Awards for Excellence

At a ceremony in Dublin Castle on June 21st 2012, An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny T.D. presented a Public Service Excellence Award to two college admission schemes the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) and the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) . The awards, which seek out improvements and innovative activities from the public sector, recognise the success of the DARE & HEAR schemes in increasing the numbers of students entering third level with disabilities or from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Since the schemes were opened up to all secondary school students nationwide in 2009 HEAR has seen a 154% increase in applications and a 103% increase in acceptances. The number of acceptances of a college place through DARE has risen by over 300% from 214 in 2009 to 753 in 2011.

The schemes, with support from the Department of Education and the Higher Education Authority (HEA), have undergone major change and development over the last 3 years to help meet the HEA National Access Office targets of a 54% college entry rate for all socio-economic groups by 2020 and a doubling of the number of students in 3rd level with sensory, physical and multiple disabilities by 2013.

Representatives of the DARE & HEAR Schemes with An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD at the Public Service Excellence Awards Dublin Castle 21 June 2012

154% The increase in HEAR

applications since the schemes were opened up to all secondary school students nationwide

in 2009

Award Winners Group Shot at Public Service Excellence Awards Dublin Castle 21 June 2012

Cliona Hannon Chair of the DARE HEAR Strategic Development Group receiving the Public Service

Excellence Award from An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD

In the summer of 2012 Veronika Steiner, a mature student in UCD, was a recipient of an Access Travel Award from EIL Intercultural Learning. Veronika was the first mature student in Ireland to receive this EIL award. EIL sent Veronika to Mexico City where she worked for 2 months with community groups in the areas of Migrants Rights, Indigenous Rights and Youth Rights. Ms. Steiner came to Ireland ten years ago from Austria. She had only basic English when she arrived. With the encouragement of a tutor Ms. Steiner made a leap of faith to enter university through the mature student route in 2008. While a student here Veronika excelled academically in her Bachelor of Social Science degree and added English and Italian to go with her mother tongue, German.

Ms. Steiner grew up in rural Austria. In order to help the family survive Veronika did field work rather than finish school. Veronika married at a fairly early age and had a number of children. After her children grew up Ms. Steiner began to further educating herself. Her economic conditions while growing up in the Austrian mountains formed her thinking and outlook on what is important in life and made her want to both see what was going on in the wider world and to help those who had less than herself economically and politically. She did this through interest courses and some travel to expand her horizons which eventually led her to enter UCD in her early fifties to obtain her BSoc Sci.

What is important to Ms. Steiner is her own education and giving back to those who are in a situation similar to her own when she grew up.

Access Student receives Access Travel Award

We are offering five key workshops covering the areas that many students struggle with in the first year at university: • Note Taking• Study Skills• Academic Writing• Research Skills• Exam Preparation

Each one-hour workshop is offered seven times over two weeks and students attend workshops on alternate weeks. The workshops are offered: Monday 1pm - 2pm, Wednesday 1pm - 2pm, Friday 11am - 12pm and Friday 12pm to 1pm. This has helped students to fit attendance at the workshops around their existing class schedules. Our aim is to help students to master these essential skills in their first year so that they can become effective learners and writers for the rest of their degrees and careers.

The slides and other materials from these workshops have been made available on our new Learning Support Blackboard module. These resources are available to all first year students registered with the Access Centre. Items such as easy to personalise weekly timetables, learning style questionnaires, proofreading checklists and reading strategy handbooks will be useful for all students who wish to improve their performance at university.

So far this semester the workshops have been a great success. Over 80 students have registered for the workshops and each class has been well attended. Those students attending the workshops have reported that they are finding the classes very useful, and they feel the material on Blackboard has been very helpful in their first few weeks at university. Those students who were unable to attend the Access Centre Orientation have reported that the workshops have helped to assuage their nervousness about making the leap to third level. We hope to offer further workshops next semester covering specific topics in greater detail.

If you are interested in attending these workshops, or you would like to suggest a topic for an upcoming workshop, then please contact Lisa Padden: Email: lisa.padden@ucd.ie

Learning Support Workshops

Transition from second to third level can be quite daunting for many students. The movement from passive to active learning and the new responsibility of independent study present many challenges to first year students. This semester we are introducing a series of learning support workshops to help students with the transition into third level education.

Picture shows students in a workshop participating in a self-reflective exercise to discover their personal learning style.

With the encouragement of a tutor Ms. Steiner made a leap of faith to enter university...

Thank YouThe UCD Access Centre could not operate without the support of private donors and State funders. Your contribution to it ensures that we can provide a high quality service to our linked schools, as well as effective supports and financial assistance to our undergraduate students.The UCD Access Centre receives significant State funding through the Higher Education Authority and the NDP/ESF Student Assistance Fund and the Fund for Students with Disabilities.A number of key private donors also contribute. They include:• ARUP Consulting Engineers• UCD Alumni (UCD/AIB Affinity Credit Card Scheme)• Citibank International (Citigroup Foundation)• Women Graduates’ Association• Boylan Sisters Limited• AIB Bank• Irish Life and Permanent• UCD Alumni Scholarships• Phyllis Purcell (A scholarship in the name of her parents)• Bank of Ireland for the Bank of Ireland UCD New Irish• Communities Scholarship• The Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund of Tides

FoundationIf you would like to support any element of the UCD Access Centre, please contact Fiona Sweeney, Access Centre Manager, at 01 716 1658.

Ronan is the Mature Students’ Adviser and is based on the 1st floor of the Newman Building in the F/G section, room G101. As the Mature Students’ Adviser Ronan provides a variety of supports for mature students ranging from pre-registration writing and mathematics support to on-going practical issues regarding academic, social or personal concerns throughout the year.

The Mature Students’ Advisor runs an open-door policy so you can just pop in during office hours or make an appointment for any time throughout the working day.

The Mature Students’ Adviser is closely connected to all other student supports in UCD from the Careers Centre to the Health Service to Disability Support or Programme or School Offices, Central Administration, Libraries or Mathematics Support.

Whether it be standard information requests or more serious matters all conversations are treated with the utmost confidentiality and there is always time and space to talk things through. Consider Ronan’s office your first port of call as you travel through UCD on your journey to your degree.

Current & Upcoming EventsUCD Open DaySaturday 17th November 2012

Better OptionsA unique event for students with a disability or specific learning difficulty considering their college options in ireland Thomond Park Limerick Thursday 22nd November 2012 DCU Wednesday 28th November 2012

Dare/Hear Applications Clinics Nationwide 12th January 2012 Wexford 17th January 2012

Leaving Cert WorkshopsSaturday 19th January 2012 Saturday 2nd February 2012 Saturday 23rd February 2012

Voluntary Tutoring Scheme Continues every Tuesday evening until Tuesday 23rd October, then breaks for mid-term break and starts again on Tuesday 6th November until Tuesday 20th November 2012.

Access Centre Learning Support Workshops Weeks 8 & 9 - Research Skills Workshop Monday 1-2pm in J109 Wednesday 1-2pm in J109 Friday 11-12 in A109

Weeks 10 & 11 - Exam Preparation Workshop Monday 1-2pm in J109 Wednesday 1-2pm in J109 Friday 11-12 in A109Credits: Pauric Holloran, Margaret MacDonagh & Julie Tonge

If you would like to view this document in an alternative format, please contact any member of the Access Centre team.

Ronan Murphy Mature Students’ Adviser

You can contact the Mature Students’ Adviser at the email below or by telephone or by stopping by. Room G101 Newman (Arts) Building Tel: 01 716 8245 E-mail: ronan.murphy@ucd.ie

Staff Profile Ronan Murphy

MATURE STUDENTS’ ADviSER