Higher Education Capacity Building in Northern Malawi 

Dr. Rosarii Griffin, Centre for Global Development

Impact: Local, National, International

This collaborative research project with Mzuzu University, Malawi, aims to build research capacity with the Department of Nursing and Midwifery to generate research data of import in relation to national targets vis-a-vis Malawi's Health Strategic Sector Plan. This will also assist Malawi, one of the world's least developed countries, to meet the UN SDGs. The impact of the research project will work towards improving the quality of higher education in relation to learning, teaching and research capacity building in partnership with the Department of Nursing and Midwifery at Mzuzu University (MZUNI), Malawi.

The planned outputs include: the generation of empirical data through a joint research project into the reasons behind Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy; the generation of academic research papers for publication; the publication of policy briefs that will inform Malawi's national healthcare policy and public health messaging, and the contribution of additional baseline data on issues pertaining to public healthcare messaging and the power of social media to assist. This research project is assisting our Irish colleagues to understand the complexities of global partnerships in relation to culture, context, resources and communication issues. The collaborative project also encourages Irish academics to reflect on their own ethnocentric assumptions, and to broaden their understandings of undertaking complex research in partnership with the global south, for the purpose of assisting Malawi's healthcare sector, thus meeting UCC's obligations towards the United Nations SDGs. 

SDG 4 - Quality Education

SDG 1 - No Poverty

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

SDG 5 - Gender Equality

SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

IMMERSE: Integration Mapping of Refugee and Migrant Children in Schools and other Experiential Environments in Europe 

Dr. Shirley Martin, Dr. Reana Maier, Dr. Deirdre Horgan and Dr. Jacqui O'Riordan, School of Applied Social Studies

Impact: International

IMMERSE, Integration Mapping of Refugee and Migrant Children in Educational and Other Experiential Environments in Europe, is a multi-partner research study funded under the European Commission’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme. The project’s consortium comprises 11 partners in six countries: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. The project commenced in 2018 and is examining the socio-educational integration of refugee and migrant children in schools and other educational environments across the partner countries. It is due to be completed in 2023.

The central aim of IMMERSE is to develop a dashboard of 30 key indicators of socio-educational integration and gather data to fill the dashboard. The objective is that using this tool, researchers, educators, and policy makers have a practical tool explore data related to children’s integration in schools in the six partner countries and evaluate programmes and practice in their own locations. The project involves large-scale quantitative and small-scale qualitative data collection methods, as well as creating an online digital databank of resources and an online community, the IMMERSE Hub, where ideas and resources are being shared. It is expected that data collected and analysed will inform policy recommendations on migrant children’s integration in education across Europe.

SDG 4 - Quality Education

• Target 4.5 - Eliminate all discrimination in education

SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

• Target 10.2 - Promote universal social, economic and political inclusion (particularly indicator 10.2.1 which relates to the proportion of people living below 50 per cent of median income, by sex, age and persons with disabilities)
• Target 10.3 - Ensure equal opportunities and end discrimination

SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

Learning Spaces in Undergraduate Dental Education

Dr. Siobhán Lucey, Cork University Dental School and Hospital

Impact: Local, National, International

The aim of this research is to explore the impact of physical and virtual learning spaces on dental professional students during clinical training. Impact will be considered as effects on students such as acquisition of, or change in, knowledge, skills or attributes, or attainment of competences or learning outcomes.  The outputs of this research include a scoping review to map the available evidence regarding the impact of dental learning spaces. This will inform the direction and format of subsequent enquiry with student research partners to investigate various learning spaces. Following this consultation process, recommendations for improvements will be developed with a view to ensuring that dental education facilities are inclusive and effective learning environments for all. It is anticipated that the findings will be transferrable to other institutions nationally and internationally.

Over time, it is envisaged that this research will increase awareness of the impact of learning spaces on dental professional students. To date, the impact of various teaching settings, such as hospitals, clinics, and community sites, on dental professional students has not been explored through the learning environment paradigm. This research will therefore facilitate the consideration of learning spaces within dental programmes at local, national, and international levels.

SDG 4 - Quality Education

• 4.a - Build and upgrade education facilities
  

Promoting democratic competences through Service Learning and international mobility

Dr. Bozena Cierlik, School of History

Impact: Local, National, International

The aim of this research is to enhance module HI2048 already offered to UCC students of History, Politics and European Studies by positioning it within Global Citizenship and Development Education (GDCE) methodology. Pedagogy is based on the concept of integration of GCDE and certain SDGs into teaching to promote democratic competences through Service Learning. This community-engaged module partners with Cork City Council and UCC’s Civic & Community Engagement Office and International Office. The module emphasises the development of graduate attributes of social responsibility and effective global citizenship.

Meaningful engagement with local community organisations and Cork City Social Inclusion unit will enable participation in the process of identifying needs and policies at a local level that facilitate social inclusion, diversity, integration, social capital, social enterprise, cultural expression, identity and community participation and empowerment. Students will enhance local Cork community development work, across practice, policy, strategies and ethics, drawing on their own international or home perspective and their countries community development work. Issues vital to social, civic, cultural, economic and political society are explored, as personal and social competencies are as important a category of students’ learning goals, as academic goals. It promotes sustainability by engaging in active learning in collaboration with the Polish community and local administration (Cork City Council). It integrates diversity and civic learning, facilitates the move from the language of service to the language of justice and social responsibility and links diversity and civic work to the learning outcomes we want to cultivate in students.

“The UNICORN project will design and test a new mobility scheme for university students that combines international mobility with a Service-Learning (Community Based Learning) experience in the community. University College Cork (UCC) and Cork City Council are working together with four other HEIs and their community partners: Universita di Bologna (UNIBO), Universidad Completense de Madrid (UCM), Universitaet Leipzig (UL) and Universiteit Antwerpen (UA).”

- Martin Galvin, Anna Kingston, UCC Civic Engagement Office

SDG 4 - Quality Education

• Target 4.7 - Education for sustainable development and global citizenship

SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

• Target 10.2 - Promote universal social, economic and political inclusion
• Target 10.3 - Ensure equal opportunities and end discrimination

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

• Target 16.3 - Promote the rule of law and ensure equal access to justice 
• Target 16.7 - Ensure responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making
• Target 16.b - Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies

Certificate in Continuing Professional Development in Community Based Mentoring: An Evaluation of the Pilot Initiative

Dr. Elizabeth Folan O'Connor, Dr. Fiachra Ó Súilleabháin, Sheila McGovern, Professor Máire Leane, School of Applied Social Studies & SOAR Inter-institutional Collaboration on Access

Impact: Local, National, International

Target 4.7 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals calls on countries to provide learners of all ages with the knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development through education as a human right. In the spirit of developing a mutual and collaborative approach to knowledge creation and exchange, the Access Services in both University College Cork (UCC) and Munster Technological University Cork Campus (MTU Cork) set about exploring the feasibility of a community-based mentoring initiative to increase access amongst under-represented groups. This research was designed to evaluate one university-community partnership which trained and empowered natural mentors in the Cork area to promote access to education and lifelong learning in their neighbourhoods and communities in line with Goal 4 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

This research revealed the potential for success when both the university and the community – and their networks of institutions, community organisations, affiliations and individuals – engaged in mutual and reciprocal initiatives to promote education and lifelong learning in the community through the Certificate in Continuing Professional Development in Community Based Mentoring Programme. For the university, this initiative complemented existing access initiatives and programmes and extended these efforts into neighbourhood community centres to promote access to education and lifelong learning. For the community, the programme allowed them to tap into their existing talent and resources to more fully empower the first cohort of mentoring certificate students to engage with their communities and promote inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. The success of this university-community partnership, as detailed in the report, can be viewed as a framework for action on how to empower the community to provide learners of all ages with the knowledge and skills to access education and lifelong learning throughout life. 

To quote one research participant in the Certificate in Continuing Professional Development in Community Based Mentoring Programme, the valuable lesson they learned from the certificate course about mentoring in their community was that -

"You are not supposed to be the sage, the one with the solutions, you are just there to guide them to find the solutions themselves. I love that idea. I am sorry I didn't know that years ago."

SDG 4 - Quality Education

The Praxis Project, integrating Global Citizenship and Development Education (GCDE) across UCC

Dr. Gertrude Cotter, The Praxis Project, Centre for Global Development

Impact: Local, National, International

The overall aim of this research study is to understand, through critical engagement with UCC staff, students and policy makers, how best to integrate the theory and practice of GCDE into the work of UCC across all disciplines and across the work of the university.  The central question is:  how can we integrate the theory and practice of GCDE into the work of UCC across all disciplines and across the work of the university as a whole and what are we learning as we do so? This research has an impact on a local, national and international basis:

Local: 

• Integrates GCDE Pedagogy, Practice and Curriculum Design across UCC;
• Supports the provision of quality GCDE to UCC staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students and wider community;
• Develops a strong research culture which informs the deep-rooted embedding of GCDE in Higher Education;
• Enhances delivery and maximises impact of GCDE across UCC and Ireland, through networking, collaboration, and partnerships.

National:

• Builds GCDE capacity and increases awareness of SDG 4.7 within Higher Education in particular, and across the wider GCDE sector in Ireland and internationally.

International:

• Contributes to an international conversation on GCDE and enables UCC to enhance its global justice reach.

Higher-level education, apart from initial teacher education, is not as well developed as other sectors, in terms of GCDE pedagogy, research and curriculum design.  This is a gap which Praxis strives to fill, not just within UCC but alongside other higher education institutions in Ireland and beyond. 

“Since 2018 the Praxis Project has directly impacted many students, staff, departments and schools at UCC and beyond.  We have been developing our capacity to integrate a sense of global justice education into all aspects of the work of the university.  Working with colleagues in other higher education institutions and civic society organisations, we will continue to foster a critical perspective, including of the SDGs themselves, on higher education, with a view to transforming how we view education, development and citizenship.  We hope to foster knowledge, skills, values and outrage in the face of global social, economic, political and environmental injustices and encourage local, national and global actions which will create a more just, equitable and sustainable society for all.”

SDG 4 - Quality Education

• Target 4.7 - Education for sustainable development and global citizenship
  

Are Human Development Indices Reflecting the SDGs?

Dr. Marie Ryan, Department of Economics, Cork University Business School

Impact: Local

The purpose of this research-led initiative is to examine the role governments play in a country's development. Analyzing their chosen country using data retrieved from the Human Development Indices (HDI), students qualitatively assess, critically analyze, and evaluate the role the respective government plays in achieving SDG 2 and SDG 3. This helps students, particularly those studying social science, to understand the relevance and significance of comprehending and applying the SDGs in their future working contexts.

Students studying social science are taught about the SDGs and are required to investigate, among other things, why wealthy countries with high GNI per capita have shorter life expectancies or shorter expected years of schooling. Students must analyze why nations that devote a sizable portion of their GDP on health and education do not exhibit decreased death rates or greater primary education. Students ask what function institutions or systems of government serve and evaluate what may be done to ensure there is equitable access to education and free primary education among other targets through a comparative study. The sources of the data are left open to critical inquiry by the students. Students’ motivation is stimulated with an enthusiasm to question, research and analyse if SDGs are going to be fulfilled. Moving forward, offering options and supports for students to present their SDG work using multiple means of expression (video/ppt/qualitative essay) paves the way to present SDGs in a more accessible and understanding manner, ultimately benefitting society.

“SDG accomplishment and the part played by our students”

– Dr. Marie Ryan

SDG 4 - Quality Education

• Target 4.1 - Free primary and secondary education
• Target 4.2 - Equal access to quality pre-primary education
• Target 4.3 - Equal access to affordable technical, vocational and higher education

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

• Target 3.1 - Reduce maternal mortality
• Target 3.8 - Achieve universal health coverage
• Target 3.b - Support research, development and universal access to afforable vaccines and medicines