Corvinus

Transition Year Programme in the Arts and Humanities

Corvinus 2023 - 2024 programme: 4-8 March

Transition Year Programme in the Arts and Humanities

Programme 2024: 4-8 March

This programme is designed for Second level Transition Year students interested in literary, creative, and historical humanities.

One week-long programme includes a range of workshops and taster lectures/seminars on.

Celtic Civilisation
English
Greek and Roman Civilisation
History
History of Art
Theatre

Convinus students will experience what it is like to be an undergraduate, to attend lectures with other undergraduates and to participate in focused study in smaller tutorial groups. The programme includes specially designed workshops (in previous years, these included Creative Writing, Applied Theatre: Life Skills, Ogam and Palaeograpy) see link to Corvinus 2020).

This structured programme introduces TY students to a broader third-level student experience and will include a tour of the campus, an introduction to the library and library collections, and a career talk.

At the end of the course, the students will receive a Certificate of Completion.

Application: Entry for TY Corvinus 2024 is by application and limited to 18 places only. The deadline for application is 1st December 2023.

Students will be admitted to the programme on the basis of their motivational statements, their Junior Cert results and the subjects they are studying for Leaving cert.

Applications must be submitted on the application form, available at (Corvinus Application Form 2024), typed and sent by email.

For further information, please contact Programme Co-Ordinator, Dr Catherine Ware (Catherine.Ware@ucc.ie)

Here are some comments from Corvinus Students

My week in the Corvinus programme was truly one of the greatest experiences anyone could have. I made some wonderful friends and learned so much about topics I have a great interest in, such as Art History for example. The lecturers were incredibly engaging throughout the course and motivated us to want to learn more. I constantly felt inspired to learn more about the various topics and got a taste of college life would bring.

The Theatre of the Image workshop left such an impression on me. It was interactive and allowed us to be creative and expressive through movement rather than words. For example, we worked together in pairs to create acted scenes that we thought up which gave us a great chance to try something many of us hadn’t done before. It was different than the other elements of the course but was nonetheless a really wonderful experience. I love theatre and I hadn’t been too sure what to expect going in, but the experience proved to be immensely enjoyable and memorable.

The Corvinus programme was a once in a lifetime experience to have had the chance to be part of. I left the UCC campus humbly that Friday with new, fond memories of this amazing opportunity to learn more about college life, having made wonderful friends and feeling inspired to learn, write and create. It was truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever gotten the chance to partake in and I was honoured to have been chosen for such a unique experience. I would encourage any future Transition Year students to apply, it was a simply an unforgettable experience.

Abby Crowe, 2020

I actually really liked that even though we weren’t treated as children and were treated basically like college students we still had some workshops and tutorials specifically for us.

Aoife Morrissey, 2020

I loved seeing the experience of college life. I liked the way we were treated like adults, and the way that the lecturers were so interested in our opinions and thoughts on what they were talking about during the tutorials.

Elizabeth O’Donovan, 2020

The Corvinus course was without doubt one of the highlights of my TY year. I got a really good insight into a wide range of different topics, and it made me consider studying topics I never would have thought about before. My favourite of these was defiantly the history of art. I never really knew much about this beforehand, but they were my favourite lectures and the lecturer was really engaging which made it all the better. The Drama lab workshop was really fun, and it was a nice change as it was so active and lively. The visit to the glucksman was really great, and I actually ended up buying one of the contemporary art magazines from the shop there after we looked at them during a workshop in the glucksman. The course as a whole actually made me discover a love of art I didn’t realise I had until now. The campus and library tours were really good and again, another good look at what college life is like. The campus tour could have even been longer, or maybe split between two days because there was so much to see. I liked how the tour guide went into such depth on the different aspects of the campus.

The way the course was structured was really good. Having a mix of workshops, tutorials and lectures allowed me to make loads of new friends, who I’m still in contact with. That was defiantly the best part of the course, and the main thing I will take away from it. I would encourage people to apply for this course if its running again next year, even if you don’t think you have a huge interest in some of the topics, because you might just find something you are really interested in, like I did.

Paddy O’Halloran, 2020

The workshops and tutorials were great. Not only were they informative and interesting, but they also gave us the chance to get to know each other better in a smaller group than we were in for the lectures. I especially loved the creative writing and theatre workshops, and the English tutorial,

Rachel Rooney, 2020

Feedback: the course truely opened my eyes not just to what the Ucc has to offer but also what the College education entails which isn't an opportunity people my age get very often. All of the lecturers and staff were very engaging and it was obvious that they really gave effort to show what each subject/module entails. I really enjoyed my time there and I hope more people avail of such an eye opening opportunity.

Fehin Duggan (2022)

I was taken off guard by 'Gender and Irish History'. I thought as a young woman interested in history I would know more. This lecture showed me that I know nothing and I am so grateful for that. I think every student in ireland should hear this talk because it was one which truly makes you think.

The career talk was probably the first actually helpful careers talk I have ever had. The only problem is, now thanks to this amazing programme, I want to sign up to too many courses.

Thank you again for this amazing course. This will 100% be one of the highlights of my TY experience and one which i will not forget.

Lilian Gleave (2022)

Corvinus has been the best opportunity I received in TY and I’m so grateful that I was given the chance to study subjects that are of interest to me in far more depth than I would at school. It has helped me grow both in confidence and academically and also clarified my once doubted thoughts of choosing arts subjects for the Leaving Cert and university.

The workshops were great and I found all of them really fun. I thought that the theatre workshop was a great way of getting the group talking to each other and helped us come out of our shell. All the workshops were practical and I enjoyed that element of them very much. I wasn’t looking forward to the poetry workshop but I found it exceptionally engaging and I thought the poetry writing section of the workshop was a bit of fun. I also really liked going to the Glucksman on Friday and making the posters as it was a great way to test our creativity and express our views through art. I was looking forward to the Ogam workshop and it didn’t disappoint as I thought it was incredibly interesting and as a student who likes languages, was fun to see how written Irish has evolved.

I thought the seminars were very helpful because they were only thrown for the group and allowed more room for discussion and questions. I liked the history ones very much (Vikings and Gender in Irish history) as they informed me on things I didn’t know before. The English and Philosophy ones encouraged me to take a deeper look into things and further analyse texts which is very helpful in any situation. Another thing I thought was brilliant was the library’s special collection of manuscripts, which were beautiful.

The career talk was very helpful in terms of subjects and also jobs one can pursue with an arts degree. Additionally, the tours of both the campus and library were great and I loved learning about the history of the campus.

Overall I would recommend any student interested in an arts subject to apply for Corvinus as it gave me the opportunity to try out a large amount of arts subjects in college, make new friends and it taught me valuable life lessons. All the professors were very welcoming of us and I didn’t feel out of place, despite the age difference between us and the first year students!

Riona Hely 2022

Lectures:

I absolutely loved sitting in on lectures during the week. It gave me a real sense of what college is like. Although my favourites were Greek and Roman Civilisation and History, I enjoyed all the lectures. I really enjoyed Dr. Ware’s method of teaching and thought it was fun to imagine what my skills would be if I were sold as a slave!

The Workshops:

I really enjoyed the workshops. It was nice that we had lectures in the mornings and then workshops in the afternoon. I loved the Ogham & Palaeography and Art & Activism the most because they are closer to my normal interests, but it was cool to go out of my comfort zone and do Creative Writing and Applied Theatre. It was really fascinating to learn about Ogham and all the ways it could’ve been used. And I never knew about all the community work the Glucksman do!

Aoife Subtil

This is what I thought about the:

Lectures: I loved these lectures so much. They were all easy to understand and comprehend. I found them all very interesting, and it took my knowledge about these topics further than secondary school could teach. It made me excited about attending some of these lectures in the future if they were going to be like this. I loved these so much.
The Workshops: I found these the most fun classes in the week. I liked how engaging the classes were, and how us students actually contributed and took part in the class. I liked how these workshops made us talk to the other students doing the course, and so making us closer.
Seminars/Tutorials: These were the most interesting. I enjoyed how the classes were focused on us, and what us 15/16 year olds had to say. I liked how the Gender and Irish History seminar showed us how the Republicans in Ireland did wrong in the fight for independence, as the school books don't show any of that side. I liked how the Animals and the Environment in Ancient Philosophy professor did such a good, encouraging job in letting us voice our opinions. It made the class much more comfortable, I thought.
Career Talk: This was super, we received loads of vitale information on how to apply for a CAO (which I later gave to my older siblings). The professor showed us that there are loads of professions available from the subjects we enjoy, even if we don't see it now. She really made me comfortable in picking a subject I'm passionate for, instead of one that I would find more boring, but is safe. I liked how she engaged with the class as well.

Name withheld [Linda, 2022]

It's Corvinus Week and the TY students are enjoying their time in UCC.

Corvinus Students receive their certificates of completion from Professor Nuala Finnegan, the Dean of Undergraduate and Postgraduates Studies.