This week the In-Person Learning: Make the Most of Your Degree campaign offically launched. 

The UCC Graduate Attributes Programme Team were selected for the Enhancing the Student Experience Award under the University Staff Recognition Awards Programme 2022. The Awards Programme was established in 2010 to recognise outstanding achievements and contributions of staff towards realising the vision and goals of UCC. The Selection Committee determined that the Graduate Attributes Programme Team should be honoured with this award on the basis of an exemplary contribution to their roles and the wider University.

UCC's “Acorn to Mighty Oak” metaphor symbolises academic, personal and professional development journey throughout a student’s time at UCC.  In an additional celebration to the Your Compass formal launch, the Graduate Attributes Programme hosted an oak tree planting ceremony on 5 th October 2022 to bring to life this metaphor and to mark the different transitions in a student’s journey. The Acorns included two transition year students, Abbey Burke and Abby Carolan who attend North Presentation Secondary School, Farranree, Cork City, who were accompanied by their Guidance Counsellor, Teresa O Flynn. The Oaks were represented by Jack  David Pimlott, UCC student in Ecology and Environmental Biology and Ailbhe Fitzgerald, UCC student in Bcomm (Hons) Commerce International with Irish. Your UCC Graduate Attributes and Values Compass supports students to consider their holistic development, through their formal curriculum and through the many ways that they can grow, develop and become at UCC.

Your UCC Graduate Attributes and Values Compass or Your Compass for short, the flagship initiative of the Graduate Attributes Programme has officiallly launched.

By Merlin Jago Marwitz – Student Intern from Hamburg, Germany with the UCC Graduate Attributes Programme

During the days of 29th to 1st of July 2022, the The Graduate Attributes Programme (GAP) Manager Adel Coleman represented UCC in the 9th Living Knowledge Conference 2022 in Groningen University in the Netherlands.

This year the International Association of Student Affairs and Services Global Summit 2022 was hosted by Student Affairs Ireland (SAI) and University College Cork campus from June 15-17, 2022.

In collaboration with multiple stakeholders, an animated video on Finding Your Tribe at UCC has been devised and developed.

Success, it's in your nature showcases all the ways students and staff can engage with nature on our campus to enhance mental and physical health and wellbeing, enhance their academic and personal success and build their graduate attributes and values.  

We are delighted to share with you that the student self-assessment tool, as set out under Action 17 of Priority 4 UCC's Academic Strategy 2018-2022, has been developed and is called Your UCC Graduate Attributes and Values Compass [GAP Compass].

The Graduate Attributes Programme, in collaboration with the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences and the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science, has created a series of short videos that explain the different degree options available to second year students who have to choose a specific degree stream after first year.

In November 20202, the Graduate Attributes Programme and the Civic and Community Engagement office successfully submitted a joint application to the NF's 2020 Network and Discipline Fund to showcase how Community Engaged Learning (CEL) promotes the development and acquisition of graduate attributes and values, and builds awareness and fosters active ‘hands-on’ learning of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.  

Two more of the UCC Virtual Reality Campus experience videos were released in mid-September.

The Graduate Attributes Programme, together with the Graduate Studies Office and the Students’ Union, are delighted to be able to offer a bespoke set of workshops to our Postgraduate Research student community.

In August 2021, just ahead of the start of the new academic year, bilingual signage (in Irish and English) to promote the UCC Graduate Attributes Programme was installed on the high-level parapet walls in the atrium space of the Hub.

Campus Maps with three options of looped walks have been co-developed by GAP, Students’ Union (Welfare), UCC Clubs and Made2Move for each of UCC’s three campuses.

UCC wins Best Student Experience, Best Student Campus, Best Green Campus and Overall Excellence in Education at the 2021 Education Awards!!

UCC launches Nurturing Bright Futures, a pre-entry programme for all students to assist the transition to third level learning and life.

After many months of design and development, we are delighted to share the Nurturing Bright Futures programme with you!  We are holding the virtual launch on Monday 22nd March at 3pm on www.ucc.ie/nurturingbrightfutures

Successful outcomes within the Graduate Attributes Programme in 2020 are a testament to a dedicated and talented team around us but with radical and transformative collaboration campus-wide. The successful integration of the initiatives has been bolstered university-wide with more than 30 teams collaborating on projects which will support and equip students and graduates with the necessary attributes, skills and values throughout the entire student life-cycle.

University College Cork are excited to announce a partnership project with Microsoft. This project is harnessing the power of Microsoft Teams and LinkedIn Learning to support final year/penultimate year students build up work-ready skills and attributes.

The Graduate Attributes Programme launches a new "Tips for Minding your Mental Health" video for both new students transitioning to UCC and also students returning back.

You are probably used to hearing “what are you studying”? but not too many ask “how are you learning”? How you think about your learning and the strategies you use are really important for your study success. 

Find out about Growth mindset in our new video https://youtu.be/nxNHWD_JfqI

Thank you to Dr. Eithne Hunt for her amazing contribution to this video script.

Students share some insights in to how they are using and developing graduate attributes and values during the Covid19 pandemic.

Student Stories

The College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, collaboratively with the Graduate Attributes Programme launch #MadeinUCC - the first video in a series showcasing Arts and Humanities as a broad degree with many career routes and employability choices, in addition to the full array of graduate attributes and values.

Last night, we received great news that our "Graduate Attributes" visual identity has been accepted into the 100Archive 

We are delighted to bring you this special edition Graduate Attributes Programme news update for Summer 2020. This special edition has a focus on the development of graduate attributes and values in the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences (CACSSS) in University College Cork.

Graduate Attributes- Focus of Arts and Humanities 2020

Postgraduate students from across all four colleges embarked on a journey of solving some of our UCC and grand societal challenges. Hosted by Blackstone LaunchPad at UCC with Graduate Studies Office, 60 students participated in the two day event.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X12ky8pYed8

Meet Roisin, Raj, Ciara and Joe from UCC, who tell us what attributes and values they are developing throughout their journey in UCC. Each student tells us more about each attribute and value and how these are enabling them to develop life wide and life long skills. Watch here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy_2hXxSLBc

• Roisin - Sarah Stafford
• Raj - Shivam Kislay
• Ciara - Jane Haynes
• Joe - David Quinn

Táimid ag cur lenár gcuid eolais agus scileanna agus tá forás ag teacht ar ár gcuid deiseanna pearsanta. Tá forbairt á déanamh againn ar na tréithe agus na luachanna a bhaineann linn. Cinnteoidh siad seo go mbeimid ullamh don am atá le teacht agus beimid in ann cur leis an tsochaí. Seasaimid do Meas, Uaillmhian, Báúlacht, Seasmhacht agus Ionracas. https://youtu.be/jPyAR3lmK_Y

The underlying vision inspiring our direction is that of a ‘Connected University’, with enhanced synergy between teaching, research and innovation, that offers a distinctive educational experience, promoting lifelong and life-wide learning and an inspiring student experience through a unique Graduate Attributes Programme which is transformational and innovative, transdisciplinary, inter-disciplinary and embedded into the culture and ethos of the Student Experience.

In addition, the Director of Student Experience has responsibility for 13 separate services that make up the Student Experience Office (SEO) team. A total of 130 highly skilled professional student centric staff work closely with students, viewing them as partners in the co-creation of the suite of services provided.

UCC’s curricula and programmes are based on the Connected Curriculum and our Graduate Attributes Programme spans this entire Connected Curriculum. As a socially-minded, civically-engaged institution, our core values and graduate attributes are the bedrock of our student experience.

The Graduate Attributes Programme was proud to support a fantastic student-led and student-focused event this week.

Today, UCC Graduate Attributes Programme launched their showcase of the offices and services of the Student Experience.

This review illustrates the enthusiasm with which our Graduate Attributes have been embraced and, more importantly, the opportunities that have been seized by staff and students in UCC to achieve remarkable things in 2019.

Our UCC graduate attributes and values get translated into Chinese! 

Here at UCC, students are gaining knowledge and skills, broadening their horizons and developing attributes and core values which will make them future ready and better able to contribute to society and the economy. 

This video is being launched today to mark a visit by the International Office and Deputy President and Registrar, Professor John O'Halloran to China this weekend.

University College Cork (UCC) has today launched the Graduate Attributes Programme which will advance the development of students’ academic, specialist and technical competencies, equipping them with transferrable skills that can be applied in life-wide contexts. A key focus will be on the development of core values and graduate attributes which will be embedded in the academic curriculum and nurtured through curricular and extracurricular activities. This initiative will a holistic educational approach to develop character, professionalism and the capacity for critical and creative thought and will nurture students’ ability to be more socially-minded and civically-engaged in their communities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRT2DH06nLY&t=4s