The Higher Diploma in Folklore gives you the opportunity to study everyday life in Ireland, in all of its rich diversity and its vast range of cultural expressions. Folklore, like its synonym popular culture, makes a study of everyday life, both past and present. Quite simply, it studies life by looking at how people lived their day-to-day lives: their houses, technologies, stories, rituals, beliefs, religion and cosmological understandings.

Folklore has a special place in the formation of Irish consciousness, in literature, and is one of the most important hallmarks of Irish culture. The Department of Folklore at UCC is ideally placed to offer unique insights into Irish life, popular culture and traditions. It is one of only two such departments in Ireland.

The study of ordinary life is at the heart of the Higher Diploma in Folklore. Years of experience in teaching and conducting original research into Irish life, traditions and folklore make the Department of Folklore and Ethnology the ideal place to study these aspects of Irish life, and make participating in the Higher Diploma in Folklore a rich and rewarding experience. 

By studying for a Higher Diploma in Folklore, you will cover key topics including:

• oral literature (e.g. narrative, story, and song)
• popular religion (e.g. belief, healing, festivals)
• popular material culture (e.g. vernacular housing, and technologies past and present).

This course will give you the skills to:

• trace the development of the discipline of Irish and European folklore
• engage with various aspects of traditional and contemporary Irish culture
• identify key genres in narrative, and recount the social and cultural context for storytelling
• evaluate the ethnographic value of archival documents
• be able to research an ethnographic project through archival sources
• design an ethnographic fieldwork project
• use sound and visual recording technology to conduct an ethnographic interview. 

Please see the College Book of Modules for information and descriptions of modules for the current academic year.

If you are applying with Qualifications obtained outside Ireland and you wish to verify if you meet the minimum academic and English language requirements for this programme please click here to view the grades comparison table by country and for details of recognised English language tests. 

Application for this programme is on-line at www.pac.ie/ucc. Places on this programme are offered in rounds. The closing dates for each round can be found here. For full details of the application procedure click How to apply.

Please note you will be required to answer specific additional supplementary questions as part of the online applications process for this programme.

A copy of these supplementary questions are available to view here: CKA37AdditionalQuestions (49kB)

All other required supporting documentation (e.g. evidence of non-UCC undergraduate/postgraduate qualifications) must be UPLOADED via the PAC "Application Status" link or sent in hard copy to The Postgraduate Applications Centre, 1, Courthouse Square, Galway (marked with the applicants PACapplication number)

The Higher Diploma in Folklore is intended for those who already have a degree and who wish to study folklore intensively over one or two academic years, part-time. The course consists of modules to the value of 60 credits taken from a range of existing year 2 and 3 modules in BA Folklore. The subject modules will be chosen by the student in consultation with staff of the Department of Folklore, having regard to timetable constraints and suitability of course combinations.

The modules studied will vary for each individual student, depending on background, preferred area of specialisation etc.

Assessment is carried out through a combination of continuous assessment, written assignments, and end-of-year examinations.

Staff of the Department of Folklore and occasional guest speakers.

Click HERE for details of the Department staff profiles

Blathnaid Begley
Executive Assistant
E: b.begley@ucc.ie
T: +353 (0)21 490 3935