Studying and living in Ireland
Studying in Ireland is a great idea for anyone who appreciates a high level of education, modern infrastructure, appreciating one’s independence and critical thinking skills by lecturers and excellent beer. Ireland is also famous for its captivating landscapes, which you will have numerous occasions to admire during various trips.
Studying Organisation System and Universities in Ireland
In Ireland, there are universities, polytechnics, colleges, and private colleges. You can study here at 7 universities, which offer about 2,200 majors, 13 polytechnics (about 2,100 majors) and dozens of teacher training colleges and private universities. You can also study at six higher education schools that are part of the National University of Ireland. The division of universities is therefore not significantly different from what we know from Polish or Western European realities.
The differences, however, can be noticed in the 10-level National Qualifications Framework, i.e. the academic degrees given by particular types of universities. Does it sound confusing? In a shortcut, it looks like this: higher education schools give grades from level 6 to level 10. We will not tell you about lower grades because you are candidates for universities, not a primary school.
Let’s focus on the degrees you can get at Irish universities.
- Level 6 (higher certificate) is achieved after two years of study,
- Level 7 (regular Bachelor’s degree) after three years of study,\
- Level 8 (higher diploma or honors Bachelor degree) after one, two or four years of study,
- Level 9 (Master’s degree) after one or two years of study,
- Level 10 (doctoral degree) after a minimum of three years of research.
I sit clear and simple now??
Recruitment and Required Documents
This piece of information must be certainly shocking for you: passing the secondary school-leaving exams is obligatory to be entitled to apply for one of the Irish colleges. Have you recovered from the shock and heart attack yet? Great, then let us continue…
The recruitment process for first-cycle studies is completely centralized and is dealt with by the Central Applications Office. Applications for admission to a university may be submitted in both traditional and online forms. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that you can submit only one application to the CAO every year! Documents are usually accepted until February 1st, but a detailed schedule is always published well in advance on the CAO website. The cost of the “registration fee” is about 40 euros in the first term. If you have not been able to submit your application by February 1st, you will have to pay much more: 80 euros for a traditional registration and 50 euros for an electronic one. It is worthwhile to prepare all the necessary documents in advance, then.
Irish colleges do not conduct entrance examinations, but some types of universities may place additional requirements for candidates, for example, art colleges.
Recruitment for second-degree studies is much less formalized and it is organized directly by universities. However, you must personally take care of the recognition of your BA at the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland – an institution responsible for that staff.
Language Certificates
If you want to study in Ireland, then you must speak English, because it is the most common university language. Several majors are also taught in Irish. Universities accept the following diplomas: Irish Leaving Certificate in English, GCSE English Language, GCE O-Level English Language, University of Cambridge, TOEFL, IELTS, CAE, CPE.
Let’s Talk About Money
Let us not beat around the bush: studying in Ireland is is quite expensive. How much exactly do you have to? First-cycle courses at Trinity College in Dublin cost from 5500 to 9500 euros – depending on the chosen program. It is no different in case of living costs, as they can be estimated at 7,500 to 12,000. euros on an annual basis. Moreover, in Dublin, they can increase up to 15 thousand euros a year.
The biggest expense is renting an apartment. There are, however, dormitories, but the number of available places is very limited, so the chance of “trying and catching” a free room is quite illusory., If you succeed anyway, you will keep quite a lot of rustling European Union banknotes.
