UCC's Project under the HEA's Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH)

This three-year funding initiative (2021-2024) has been extended for the coming academic year 2022/23. The aim of the project is to improve Equity of Access to students who have been traditionally under-represented in teaching.

 These students include:

• Students with a disability
• Students from the Irish Traveller community 
• Students from other ethnic minorities
• Students from target socio-economic groups
• Mature students (undergraduate only)
• Students who are lone parents

 At UCC we aim to increase participation of these students in our initial teacher education courses in three ways:

1. Funding: The provision of scholarships and bursaries to aid students in financial need
2. A Junior Teacher Programme: Which will focus on both recruiting students from target groups into teaching and supporting them academically in this journey
3. Personal support: There will be a dedicated NAT project officer within the school of education whose job it will be to guide and support these students while they are studying education at UCC.

For the academic year 2022/23, New Avenues to Teaching application will run in tandem with the Student Assistance Fund, run through one centralised application process. Students wishing to make an application for NAT funding will have to apply for the Student Assistance Fund in the first instance to be considered for New Avenues to Teaching. 

Applications for the Student Assistance Fund will open early in the first semseter of 2022 .

For more information on the New Avenues to Teaching (Nat) project, please refer to https://www.ucc.ie/en/education/nat/