From Idea to Impact: UCC Alumni Fund Shaping the Student Journey

At UCC, great ideas can come from anywhere. The UCC Alumni Fund is a result of the collective generosity of alumni and friends, whose many individual contributions come together to create meaningful impact. Through the Fund, students, staff, and faculty are empowered to bring forward project proposals that enhance the UCC student experience in meaningful ways, going beyond the scope of the government grant, which unfortunately does not go far enough in funding the urgent needs of the university and our students.

From small innovations to large-scale initiatives, and thanks to the community of donors who support the UCC Alumni Fund, these ideas are coming to life and making a real difference for students. Here are just a few examples of the impact this collective effort is having across campus.

UCC NiteLine: A Listening Ear When It Matters Most

University can be a stressful and difficult time for students, with countless pressures having the potential to affect their personal and professional growth. That’s where UCC NiteLine comes in; a confidential and non-judgemental listening service for students, run by students. Thanks to dedicated student volunteers, NiteLine is there for any UCC student who needs somebody to talk to, whether due to stress, loneliness, or any other issue affecting them.

With the support of the UCC Alumni Fund, NiteLine have now expanded their hours and offerings by securing more robust training, essentials such as additional phones and late-night rides home for student volunteers, and resources to help promote the service to students so they know it is free and available to them until 2:30 a.m., 7 nights a week.

"Our role is to offer a listening ear to students who may be experiencing distress," says one of the NiteLine student volunteers, who prefer to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of their role.

"While we cannot always resolve the challenges they face, being present, available and willing to listen can make an enormous difference. On behalf of our committee of volunteers and the many students who have contacted NiteLine this year, thank you for enabling us to continue this important work.”

The most common topics for which students seek help from UCC NiteLine are academic concerns, relationships, general mental health, and loneliness. Since the service was expanded, there has been an increase in calls about non-romantic relationship concerns, most notably students reaching out because they are worried about the wellbeing of housemates or classmates and are seeking guidance on how best to support them.

With the foundational structures now in place, a full year of experience for student volunteers, and thanks to the support of donors to the UCC Alumni Fund, UCC NiteLine will continue to grow and ensure UCC students are aware of and can access this vital wellbeing support.

FiRe UP: Financial Readiness for Life

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 4 out of 10 adults in Ireland do not meet the minimum standard for financial literacy, meaning they struggle with money management, debt, and achieving overall long-term financial wellbeing.

Thanks to a grant from the UCC Alumni Fund, Cork University Business School professor Olive McCarthy and PhD student AJ Nagle have introduced the FiRe UP: Financial Readiness for Life programme available to all UCC students free of charge via an easy-to-access online module.

Through lessons in budgeting, scam protection, and more, the modules help students develop practical financial life skills to support them through college and into future employment.

“Ireland is a country that doesn’t teach people financial skills in primary and secondary schools,” says AJ.

“By participating in this course in university, [students] are going to be able to understand the difference between needs and wants, learning how to create a budget on a limited income—especially when you’re a student—learning… how to recover from debt, how to take out a loan, all the things you need to be able to have a successful financial life.”

Thanks to the UCC Alumni Fund, the FiRe UP module is now a permanent resource for UCC students—and staff—and in future the plan is to integrate it into UCC’s first year orientation programmes, giving participants financial skills and awareness for life, ensuring long-term and sustainable benefits.

Neurodiverse Voices: A Celebration of Autistic Creativity

Within the Irish education sector, there is a growing need to find sustainable, long-term benefits to help facilitate students with disabilities, particularly as they transition from second to third level. Likewise, there is a newfound appreciation for the creative works of autistic and neurodivergent people and how they often help to empower and enlighten young minds.

Neurodiverse Voices, which celebrated a very successful opening event in March, is a series of art projects and events conceived of and presented by PhD student Cornelius David Moynihan in collaboration with the UCC Neurodiversity Society and UCC Library. With the support of the UCC Alumni Fund, the project is greatly enhancing the individual and collective experiences of autistic and neurodivergent students within the university and the wider community.

“It’s so important to amplify neurodivergent voices,” says Benedite Mambu, a UCC student poet whose works were featured in the opening event.

“Conversations and art can really help with just destigmatizing, I suppose, being neurodivergent. But then it also helps to create that sort of empathy with people who may not be neurodivergent. I am very grateful to be a part of this.”

By helping UCC students who are on the spectrum to find their voice and better express themselves and their experiences, they grow more accustomed to campus life, fostering independence and encouraging personal growth through creativity.

Through the UCC Alumni Fund, the Neurodiverse Voices programme is spreading awareness of their experience to the wider UCC community, promoting diversity and inclusion which will have a lasting impact across campus, and beyond.

Together, these projects show what’s possible when a community comes together with a shared purpose, and they are just the beginning. The UCC Alumni Fund has also helped students open a campus food pantry, present a new library collection on sustainability and wellbeing, and so much more.

You can learn more and support more projects like this on the UCC Alumni Fund web page.

With your support, we look forward to seeing many more projects come to life and make a lasting difference across our campus. Thank you for helping turn ideas into meaningful change for our students.