DPR News
Inaugural UCC Student Forum
Born from UCC’s strategic plan, the UCC Student Forum is an exercise in deliberative and participatory democracy that places students at the heart of important strategic and policy issues facing UCC as a community. UCC is committed to widening participation, an intention that goes beyond mere access but extends to active involvement in decision-making. UCC’s current student population is almost 23,000 and growing. Furthermore, the University has over 2,000 Continuing and Professional Development students, 1,100 Adult and Continuing Education short course students and a Language Centre cohort.
The Student Forum brought together 68 randomly selected students on Sunday 9th & Monday 10th October 2022 to learn about, discuss, and deliberate on the question: “What kind of university experience would you as good ancestors create for UCC students of the future? After facilitated deliberation they concurred that the most pressing issues at the heart of the experience of students that require ‘systems change’ (in order of priority) are (a) accommodation provision & affordability, (b) cost of living issues affecting attendance & participation, (c) teaching & learning methods, (d) placements & industry (paid placements & accommodation provision), (e) mental health services, (f) services (quality review of teaching staff, communications app, orientations) (g) commuting & transport, and (h) sustainability.
The model chosen for the Student Forum is that of the Irish Citizens’ Assembly. Some of the main aims of the Forum are to strengthen transparency and integrity in decision making and to facilitate good decision making. As a university, we are consciously cultivating citizens who shape society for the common good and betterment of humanity and the planet. Therefore, via ‘sortition’, we committed to creating a truly representative assembly of students who displayed civic and leadership capacities through constructive participation.
The UCC Student Forum is a sector leading initiative that seeks to ensure the voice of our student body is enabled and heard.
For further details please see: https://www.ucc.ie/en/student-forum/ or email studentforum@ucc.ie