ACE at UCC Short Course Proposals

UCC through Adult Continuing Education is Ireland’s leading provider of short courses in the university sector offering over 90 courses across a wide variety of areas. In order to maintain UCC’s status as Ireland’s leading short course university we are now launching an open call for proposals to all current and retired staff of UCC who may wish to propose a short course for the Academic Year 2024-2025 We also consider short course proposals from non-UCC staff who have the required academic qualifications and teaching experience at third level.

You will find the Short Course Proposal Form below. Short courses are offered in two teaching periods (September-December and January-March) and they are offered over six, eight or ten weeks. Classes are offered on week nights and mornings two-hour-teaching slots.

Short Course Outline Proposal Guidelines

Content

Since 2005, Adult Continuing Education (ACE) has been offering an extensive programme of short courses. The number of courses on offer has increased steadily since this time, as has the number of participants that are attracted to our programmes. We are now one of the leading providers of short courses in an Irish university context.  The short course programme is an integral part of ACE’s identity and our reputation for offering high quality, relevant and topic-diverse courses has gained in public awareness.

Course content will relate to your particular discipline, but the profile of our participants should also inform course focus and emphasis. Our short courses are open to the general public and there are no specific entry requirements beside an interest in the subject area. As mature students, short course participants wish to strengthen their knowledge in an area of existing interest. In many instances, our short courses serve as taster courses to a longer programme of study or as an introduction point to a particular area of study. Courses fall into two broad categories-special interest/leisure courses and CPD-style courses. We find that the success of some courses often relates to the contemporary relevance or currency of a particular subject area, for instance recent courses like Growing for the Home Garden, Climate Change, and Permaculture: Design for Sustainability have been very popular.

Format and Style

Short course descriptors will be posted on our online advertising site. Bookings are taken from this site and we open for registration in August for the Autumn/Winter programme and in December for the Spring Programme.

When designing your proposal, please include:

• The course title. Titles that are ‘snappy’ and ‘catchy’ in style work well in drawing attention to your course and in making it stand out, so do please thinking carefully about the title;
• A short introductory paragraph that communicates in simple terms the essence and scope of the course;
• A brief description of each lecture – this may simply be the lecture titles;
• Biographical details including your qualifications and research interests;
• Your experience of teaching mature students;
• The time and day you wish to offer your course.

Note: please compose with a general audience in mind and avoid if possible academic language that may not be accessible to general interest groups.   

Please complete the ACE Short Course Proposal Form 2024-2025 and return to shortcourses@ucc.ie

Practical Details

ACE offers two rounds of short courses throughout the academic year. The teaching periods are late September to December and late January to March. In September 2024 our courses will begin the week commencing Monday, 30 September and in January 2025, the week commencing Monday, 27 January. Courses run for six, eight or ten weeks and they are delivered over two hours, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for evening courses and 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. for morning courses. The course length is set by each proposer and in general we find that new courses offered over six or eight weeks work best. Courses can be offered in the morning, Monday to Friday and in the evening, Monday to Thursday.