HISTORY

UCC and the City of Cork

Cork is a city of 200,000 people situated on the South coast of Ireland .  Though UCC itself has grown enormously in recent years - it now has over 16,000 students - the main campus is still a compact cluster of buildings spectacularly perched on an outcrop of rock overlooking the River Lee.  There is a host of activities and attractions for students both on and off campus.  Cork is a young person's city and it offers a rich social and cultural life.   The city hosts international film, jazz and choral festivals and was designated as the European Capital of Culture for the year 2005.

The Medical, Dental, Nursing, Pharmacy and Clinical Therapies schools, that currently comprise the UCC College of Medicine and Health, are all large enough to provide up-to-date teaching facilities and yet small enough to be friendly and personally welcoming.   The College of Medicine & Health is an exciting place in which to work and learn, not just because of the quality and variety of the teaching, but also because of the world class research that is going on in various departments within the College of Medicine & Health. 

New Developments

To accommodate the College of Medicine & Health that is trebling in size, to over 2,000 undergraduate students, UCC  embarked on an ambitious €120m capital building programme that includes the Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, a Pharmacy building, a phase two medical building and an academic research unit in Obstetrics and Gynaecology to complement a major new obstetrics hospital at Cork University Hospital.   The Brookfield Health Sciences Complex is houses Nursing & Midwifery, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy and the first phase of a new Medical School.   The Brookfield Complex and the Pharmacy building are only a few minutes walk apart.   Together they provide a modern, integrated teaching facility at UCC where students from different health professions learn respect for each others' roles through innovative curriculum developments designed to produce a health professional who will serve the public as effective members of health care teams.

These developments are bringing a richness and diversity to one of the founding faculties of UCC and create a complex of fine new buildings at the western end of the campus to the benefit of the College and the University as a whole. 

The Pharmacy building has strong research links with the Science Faculty. Together with the Biosciences Institute and the Food Science and Technology buildings, it enormously strengthen UCC's research capability in the chemical, medical and molecular sciences.   The Brookfield Complex of buildings provides a facility not only for undergraduate teaching and learning but also for postgraduate research and continuing professional education.   The College collaborates with the Health Service South and other health service agencies and with industry to use the facilities to the maximum effect in providing university certified courses and evening/weekend courses for health professionals of all kinds.

History of the College of Medicine and Health

Medical teaching began in Cork in the 18th century, variously dated between 1722 and 1775.  Organised teaching of Anatomy, Physiology, Medicine and Surgery, is recorded since 1828 when a Medical School was founded by Henry Augustus Caesar MD, at The United Voluntary Hospitals.   Medicine was one of the three founding faculties along with Arts and Law when University College, Cork opened its doors to students in 1849 as Queen's College Cork.  The first President, Sir Robert Kane, FRS was a distinguished physician and pharmacist.  From an initial intake of about 50 students per annum, the Medical School has expanded to classes of 120 undergraduate students, from Ireland and overseas, in 2003.

A School of Dentistry was established in 1913 adjoining the North Infirmary Hospital.   In 1982, it was relocated to the site of the new Regional Hospital at Wilton where modern facilities support the delivery of the BDS programme.  This 5-year programme has a high reputation for clinical teaching and graduates approximately 40 students each year.   A major new development in Orthodontics commenced in 2003 which further enhances clinical care and develops the research capacity and academic excellence of the Dental School.

In 2002, 200 students were admitted to a new BSc Nursing programme, following the transfer of Nursing Education from Cork University Hospital, Mercy University Hospital, South Infirmary Victoria Hospital and the Bon Secours Hospitals to University College Cork.   This programme is one of the largest in Ireland, with a wide range of post-graduate specialist degrees and diplomas.

2003 also saw the admission of the first students to new degree programmes, in Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, and Pharmacy.