Welcome

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the University Language Centre. Established in 1994, we are located in the O’Rahilly Building, opposite the Quad, in the heart of UCC’s campus.

The Language Centre is dedicated to the promotion and study of English language acquisition, teaching and learning, and skills development. Whether you are a colleague, an existing UCC student, or someone new to the university, we hope you will find the information you need on these web pages. We welcome hundreds of people through our doors each year, each with their own set of personal objectives, and we have tried to reflect that in our course and service descriptions here; however, if you find that your pathway is not represented, then please do get in touch and we’d be happy to discuss your specific needs.

Our work falls into some broad categories, full-time English programmes; academic English in-sessional and pre-sessional programmes; teacher training, support and advisory services; bespoke and collaborative programmes; summer schools and short specialist courses and our exam centre.

As you would expect from a university provider, our teachers and trainers are highly qualified specialists, drawing on expertise gathered from across international educational sectors. As a team, we are committed to innovation in our teaching, and as such, all of our teachers are involved in the work of our teacher training centre, delivering qualifications or professional development courses, and ensuring that we regularly review and reflect on our own classroom practice. Many of our teachers are also active committee members of EAP in Ireland, a community of scholarship around the understanding of academic literacy and proficiency development in second language speakers.

Cork is a compact city with a big vision. Its people and those in the university have a proud history of independent thinking and this, combined with a global outlook and confidence, makes Cork a very attractive place to study and to live. Having only arrived here myself relatively recently, I can assure you that you will receive a very warm welcome when you arrive at the Language Centre.

With warmest wishes, Céad míle fáilte, "a hundred thousand welcomes’'.

Leo Williams

Director

Mission

The UCC Language Centre mission is to help you reach your learning, teaching and communication goals in English.

We offer expertise in

• Language learning
• General, academic and specialist English
• University preparation course design
• Teacher training and professional development
• Summer school courses
• Custom-made courses for organisations and corporate clients
• Communication across cultures

Vision

Our vision is to be a leading language centre. Based in Ireland, but reaching out across the world, we will be recognised for our excellence and innovation in how English is taught, used and learned.

Our promise to you is that we will….

• Provide top quality teaching in a stimulating university environment
• Advise, support and inspire you to learn and to reach your goals
• Offer programmes and qualifications which are accredited and useful
• Give you value for money and your time
• Offer a welcoming, inclusive and multi-cultural learning space
• Help you continue your learning outside the classroom and settle into life at UCC and in Cork
• Learn from you

Values

Our values are those of our parent organisation, University College Cork:

• Compassion,
• Agility,
• Integrity,
• Respect,
• Discovery,
• Equity,
• Accountability and
• Sustainability.