Winter conferring ceremonies continued today (14 December 2006) at UCC
with 687 students conferred from the Colleges of Science, Engineering
& Food Science, Business & Law and Medicine & Health.
There were 247 from the Faculty of Commerce followed by 63 from the
Faculty of Engineering and 108 from the Faculty of Law. Some 223
graduated from the Faculty of Medicine & Health with a further 30
from the Faculty of Food Science & Technology and 16 from the
Faculty of Science.
The Conferring addresses were given by Professor Denis Lucey,
Department of Food Business & Development and Professor Caroline
Fennell, Dean, Faculty of Law, UCC.
Among those who graduated were the first group who completed the MBS in
Co-Operative and Social Enterprise. Professor Lucey, who
congratulated the students explained: "These graduates have completed
their Masters' Degree by E-Learning. In fact this Master's degree
represents the topping out of a suite of programmes in the Credit
Union, Co-Operative and Social Enterprise area area, all of which can
be pursued by distance learning or E-Learning!. We are delighted
that students can enter a Diploma Programme, go on to complete a
Bachelor's degree and now go through to complete a Master's degree in
this important field - all by distance learning or E-Learning. I
would like to thank the Irish League of Credit Unions for the generous
financial support which made the development of these programmes
possible and I would appeal to the Minister for Education and the
Government to consider some greater support for this type of
learning. Today's MBS graduates have pursued a
full-time course load in the past year. It is our view that
Government support should be linked to the course load that the
students are taking, rather than to the time of day when they pursue
the course."
Also graduating today were 10 MSc Clinical Pharmacy students who are
the first ever graduates from UCC's School of Pharmacy. The
degree, a two-year postgraduate distance learning course, is a joint
effort between the School of Pharmacy, UCC, and the Centre for Advanced
Clinical Therapeutics (CACT), St James's Hospital, Dublin, with staff
drawn from UCC, St James's Hospital, Cork University Hospital (CUH) and
Mercy University Hospital (MUH). Examinations are held in
UCC at the end of each academic year.
The students, all qualified pharmacists, attended an initial
orientation workshop in the School of Pharmacy. This was followed
by regular provision of course materials for each module and a two-hour
teaching session fortnightly via teleconferencing.
Professor Julia Kennedy, School of Pharmacy, UCC explained: "This is
the first distance learning MSc course in UK and Ireland using
teleconferencing on a regular basis. The globalization of the course
enables students and staff to link up from all corners of the
globe. The benefits of teleconferencing are clearly demonstrated
with one student from Egypt graduating this year and another from
Uganda in this year's intake of students." Dr Mary Teeling, St
James's Hospital, congratulated the students, praising their
commitment and dedication and wished them well in their future careers.
Professor Kennedy referred to the commitment of the Health Services
Executive (HSE) to fund five basic grade clinical pharmacist positions
in hospitals in the Munster area next year to enable those staff to
undertake the MSc in Clinical Pharmacy in UCC. "This is in line
with the HSE's policy to increase its commitment to continuing
education and professional development of its employees, including
those in the hospital sector. It will help to ensure the continued
viability of the course and enable hospital pharmacists from the region
to access higher professional training without having to move outside
their geographical area" said Professor Kennedy.
344MMcS
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