Student Service Annual Report 2016 – 2017 · Student Service Annual Report 2016 – 2017 5 STUDENT SERVIES ORGANISATION HART Academic Administration & Student Affairs Manager Linda

Student Service Annual Report 2016 – 2017

1

Dundalk Institute of Technology

About Student Services 4

Student Services Organisation Chart 5

Strategic Goals 6

Student Services Team 8

Access Service 9

Careers Service 10

Counselling Service 12

Disability & Student Quality Service 13

Financial Support 14

Student Health Service 15

Sports and Societies 16

Feedback on Services 18


3

Our Annual Report documents the work of the Student Services Team over the last

academic year. Feedback from students helps us to establish our goals and targets for

the year and the following are some of our highlights for the year:

The Counselling Service supervised the placement of an Educational Psychologist providing invaluable input for students with disabilities and enabling the Institute to provide more specific and targeted supports for students.

The Counselling Service organised an on campus staging of the excellent local production of the play ‘Cracks’ which was very well attended.

The Careers Service hosted a major campus careers fair with over 50 participating organisations.

The Disability Service, in collaboration with colleagues in the Careers Service, organised a careers event for with Employability Louth for students registered with the service.

The Student Assistance Fund provided financial support to more students than ever with almost 300 students receiving financial assistance.

The Access Office together with colleagues in Maynooth and DCU developed a Traveller Access Initiative in preparation for a call for funding from the HEA.

Our sports teams had a great year with many sporting successes and our GAA and Basketball teams are due to compete at the top grades next year. We are one of the top five colleges for participation in Student Support Ireland competitions.

I would like once again to offer my sincere gratitude to the Student Services Team for their support, hard work and dedication to the student experience.

Access

Careers

Chaplaincy

Counselling

Disability

Health

Student Assistance Fund

Sports & Societies

ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION &

STUDENT AFFAIRS MANAGER

LINDA MURPHY

T: +353 42 9370 207 E: [email protected]


Student Services which operates under the office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs & Registrar are a team of professional service providers who support students in actively engaging in their third level experience. The entire Student Services Team is committed to providing a range of specialist services, initiatives and events to support students and to help them have the best possible education experience from admissions and extending beyond graduation. Friendly, approachable staff encourage students to balance their academic study with a range of sports and societies. Our Chaplaincy Team provides pastoral and advisory services, our Counselling and Health Teams provides physical and mental health services including health promotion activities, our Disability and Access Service provides supports and advocates on behalf of underrepresented groups , and our Careers and Placement Service assist students in planning their futures and in progressing to employment or further studies. Appointments for all Student Services can be made through the Student Services Centre which is based in the Faulkner Building. The Centre also administers the Student Assistance Fund which provides financial assistance for full-time students who are experiencing financial difficulties whilst attending college.

Our Mission

To enhance the individual

student experience by

providing an accessible,

efficient and excellent service

which supports the holistic

development of the person,

thereby enabling each

student to achieve their full

potential.

ABOUT STUDENT SERVICES


5

STUDENT SERVICES ORGANISATION CHART

Academic Administration &

Student Affairs ManagerLinda Murphy

Access Careers Chaplaincy Counselling Health Sports & Societies

Student ServicesAdministration

Careers OfficerCatherine Staunton

Employer Liaison

OfficerAnthony Murray

Student CounsellorGertie Raftery

Student CounsellorDr Francis Mc Givern

NurseBriege Rust

NursePatricia Smith P/T

SS Administrator Careers

Adele Nelson

SS AdministratorHealth & Counselling Brenda Murnaghan

SS Administrator C&S

Turlach Cotter

SS AdministratorLiz Mc Donnell

Access OfficerEileen Lynch

Sports & Societies Officer

Derek Crilly

Student Services Officer

Sinead Dunne

SAF OfficerKathleen Maddy

Disability & Student Quality

OfficerCiara O’Shea

Disability

Doctor

Dr Shane Gleeson10 hours

ChaplainFr Paddy Rushe

Student Services – Organisation Chart


LEARNING AND TEACHING

Goal 1: Placing focus on the learner to fully realise their potential through the

provision of high quality relevant programmes

STRATEGIC GOALS Student Services support

and increase retention by

responding to student needs

SERVICE OBJECTIVE SERVICE OUTCOMES

Improve the First Year Experience to support Learners transition to higher education and improve retention

Counselling Service have fully implemented their case management system which allows them to extract data, to track the impact of counselling on retention and academic performance as well as improve the mental health of clients.

Support the personal and academic development of learners through our support services

The Counselling Service supervised the placement of a trainee Educational Psychologist who worked with students registered with the Disability Service and the Centre for Teaching and Learning.

The Counselling Service co-hosted an end of year workshop for the School of informatics & Creative Media on strategies for supporting students with learning and psychological disabilities.

The Student Assistance Fund provided financial assistance to over 300 students throughout the year.

There was an 8% increase of students registered and supported by the Disability Service on the previous year. 2,805 students attended the Health Service.

With over 60 sporting clubs and societies, including a number of new clubs/societies and events, it was once again a very busy year for students.


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ACCESS AND PARTICIPATION: Goal 2: Opening pathways of opportunity and engaging new learners

The Institute is committed to

widening participation from

targeted under-represented

groups.


Increase participation in higher education in the region

The Access Office is working as part of an access cluster with other HEA’s to develop access initiatives.

The ‘Pathways’ project, developed with Louth Leader Partnership will see outreach programmes run in the next academic year in Dundalk, Ardee and Drogheda.

Develop initiatives to increase the retention of non- traditional learners

The Disability Service collaborated on a careers event with Employability Louth.

274 students availed of the Disability Service, an 8% increase on the previous year

The Disability Service in conjunction with other HEA’s piloted the new DAWN guidelines on reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. From this a national needs assessment form has been agreed.


Enhance relationships between DkIT and the local community

Counselling Service organised a free staging of the excellent local production of the play ‘Cracks’ on campus Collaboration with both Junior Achievement Ireland and BITE lead to a number of successful visits to campus by students from DEIS Schools.

Improve response to needs of unemployed in the region

On-campus Careers Fair with over 50- participating companies and organisations.

Careers advice provided to Springboard Students

CareersConnect CRM system implemented to manage job vacancies and centralise database of empoloyers. Over 350 job vacancies advertised to students and recent graduates.

REGIONAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Goal 3: Developing, supporting and actively engaging with the community in the North East Region


STUDENT SERVICES TEAM

STUDENT COUNSELLING

Francis McGivern Student Counsellor +353 42 9370 248

e [email protected] e [email protected]

CHAPLAINCY SERVICE

Fr Paddy Rushe Chaplin +353 42 9370 246


STUDENT COUNSELLING

Gertie Raftery Student Counsellor +353 42 9370 247


DISABILITY & STUDENT QUALITY

Ciara O’Shea Disability and Student Quality Officer +353 42 9370 237


ACCESS SERVICE

Eileen Lynch Access Officer +353 42 9370 236


ACCESS

OFFICE

STUDENT HEALTH

Breige Rust Institute Nurse +353 42 9370 245


STUDENT HEALTH

Dr. Shane Gleeson Institute Doctor +353 42 9370 245

e [email protected]

STUDENT HEALTH

Patricia Smyth Institute Nurse +353 42 9370 245


CAREERS SERVICE

Harriet Andrews Careers Officer +353 42 9370 243

e [email protected]

EMPLOYABILITY ADVISER

Anthony Murray Careers Officer +353 42 9370 243

e [email protected]

ACCESS

OFFICE

SPORTS AND SOCIETIES

Derek Crilly Sports & Societies Officer +353 87 940 7092



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The Service is collaborating on the ‘Pathways’ project which was developed with Louth Leader Partnership. This will see outreach programmes run in the next academic year in Dundalk, Ardee and Drogheda. This initiative targets whose who are not currently engaged in formal education.

A detailed proposal for a Traveller Access Initiative was developed with access counterparts in Maynooth University and DCU. We are ready to submit this proposal to the HEA once the anticipated call for funding is made.

The Service made a study visit to AIT during the summer which involved discussion on migrant integration and the University of Sanctuary concept. It is hoped to develop DkIT involvement in this area—the learning from AIT is that this needs to be a campus-wide initiative with support from senior management. AIT does not offer a supplementary induction event for mature applicants but is considering doing this in the future having looked into how this is operated in DkIT. AIT students who need to sit repeat examinations are able to avail of mathematics tuition on campus during the summer months. This support was originally funded under project funding but is now mainstreamed. DkIT students would benefit if a similar support was offered to them.

It is proposed to review and revise the DkIT Scholarship Programme for intake 2018.

The Service contributed to the following collaborations:

Talks and presentations were given in Education and Training Boards (ETB) and Further Education (FE) Colleges in the region as well as participation in the

Board Member of Louth Leader Partnership

Board of Ogra Dun Dealgan (Magnet Community Training Centre)

Member of MSI (Mature Students Ireland) and AMA (national body of Access Officers)

The Service participated in the following events:

annual Chamber of Commerce Expo in the Marshes Shopping Centre

the annual Access to Success Event in Navan

Higher Options – RDS

FET2HE conference (DCU) and FET2HE Seminar (MU)

Maynooth Education Forum on ‘Migrant Trajectories Through the Education System’

Annual Access Seminar in UCD

Service Indicators Despite an improving economic environment

and changes to the operation of the BTEA (Back to Education) scheme at national level, the number of mature student entrants, as well as entrants from a background of socio-economic disadvantage, has held up well by comparison with other IoTs.

The mature entry route operated successfully. Feedback from incoming first years is very positive in relation to the service provided by the Access Service. Pre-entry and post-entry

engagement was surveyed, as well as their experience of the mature induction event.

Successful cooperation with both Junior Achievement Ireland and BITE leading to a number of successful visits to campus by second level students from DEIS schools.

Challenges for the Service Mature student applications appear to be

down for the coming academic year but his is a national trend.

The minimum quota of 20% for reserved places for mature applications should be kept under review as on some programmes there is a concern that it is functioning as a maximum quota.

Feedback from mature students once again raises concerns regarding the late issuing of timetables at the start of the academic year. This issue has also been raised by scholarship students. Students report that timetables change frequently and lectures are cancelled at short notice. This has a negative effect on the students’ learning experience.

An ever increasing number of mature students are entering third level straight from FETAC programme. This means that some of the elements covered at mature induction are not as relevant, however the event must ensure it meets the needs of those who are longest out of formal education ie. those most in need of this sort of induction event.

ACCESS SERVICE


2016/17 saw some challenges and exciting new developments for the Careers Service. These included the following:

An investment and early stage implementation of a new CRM system for the Careers Service called ‘CareersConnect’.

The rollout of a new HEA Graduate Outcomes Survey with DkIT as the pilot organisation

An increase of 15% of employers attending the Annual Industry Careers Fair.

The appointment of an Employment Liaison Officer to work between Careers Service and Placement Office enabled a more structured synergy between both functions.

Internal approval for the merging of the Careers and Placement functions under Student Services.

Service Indicators

Feedback on Service: 93% of users rated their level of satisfaction with the Careers Service as Excellent or Good.

Staff Training & Development: The Service contributed to the following collaborations:

Active membership of the Association of Higher Education Careers Services and Gradireland partnership.

Attended GTi CareersConnect User Group Training in University of Limerick

Graduate Outcomes Presentation to the HEA of DkIT pilot led by Employment Liaison Officer

Challenges for the Service: The service has maintained a quality standard for both students and employers whilst experiencing staffing issues. The Employment Liaison Officer took responsibility for managing the service with the departure of the Careers Officer. Although there was a small decrease in activity as a consequence the service managed to maintain very satisfactory levels of positive feedback from users.

CAREERS SERVICE

Student No’s 2015/16

Student No’s 2016/17

Student Appointments

495 363

Employers and Job Vacancies Advertised

208 351

Annual on-campus Careers

Fair with over 50

participating companies.


11

The Careers

Service support

students in

making career

decisions

best suited to

their skills and

aspirations



13

The Student Health Service provides acute medical care for all full-time registered students. Students with long term and/or chronic medical conditions are advised to continue their care with their own General Practitioner. Lists of General Practitioners in the area are provided to those students who present to the Service and are not registered with a GP. The provision of only acute care reduces the number of consultations providing additional consultation and increased involvement by the Service in health promotion. The on campus GP hours were reduced from 10 to 7 hours per week resulting in a cost saving to the service. The numbers attending the service reflect this change to service.

The psychiatric services in County Louth were transferred from St Brigid’s Hospital Ardee to the new Crosslanes Centre for Mental Health Services adjacent to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda. The Institute Medical and Counselling services are proposing that they visit the Crosslane Centre to facilitate awareness of the services being provided. Follow up psychiatric services are still being provided by the team located in the Ladywell Day Centre in Dundalk.

Service Training The following training event were attended by Student Health Service Staff:

Sexual Health—Dublin

Fire Safety Training

Links with Local Community The Service continues to collaborate with the HSE Young Person at Risk Nurse for this area. This academic year also saw the continued collaboration with the International Office regarding the wellbeing of International Students.

The Louth County Hospital and OLLH Drogheda continued to provide a vital service to our students when required. A number of our students availed of maternity services in Drogheda and Dundalk. We wish to express our appreciation to them.

We also wish to express our gratitude to the dedicated service providers of psychiatric services both in the Crosslanes Centre and the Ladywell Day Centre, who have assisted many of our students over the past year and continue dto so do. Ardee and with the HSE Young Person at Risk nurse for this area.

STUDENT HEALTH SERVICE

Stud

ent

No

’s

201

5/16

Stud

ent

No

’s

201

6/17

Number of Student Visits to the Service

3,430 2,805

Number of Students attending the GP

2,612 2,311

Acute medical care for all

full-time students.


CoreNet, the counselling service case management system has streamlined our recording of information with the result that the service is now almost paperless and all information in relation to clients such as notes, letters and reports are securely stored and encrypted. This also allows us to extract really good quality data and to track the impact of counselling both on retention, academic performance as well as improvement in the mental health of clients. In the near future we will also be able to bench mark our service against a number of student counselling services both here and in the UK.

The system also allows us to send text reminders and notification following a no show, which has resulted in a further decrease in DNAS. It provides scheduling and file management functions, data management and security features as well as paperwork reduction.

From March to June this year we had a trainee Educational Psychologist on placement. While she was supervised by the Counselling service she worked across the Disability Service and the Centre for Learning and Teaching and this provided an excellent opportunity for collaboration. Her input in the areas of student disabilities has been invaluable and should enable us to put in place more specific and targeted supports

Staff Training & Development Gertie invited to join the Heads of Student

Counselling Group and involved in collaboration with colleagues in Scotland.

Francis continued in his role as treasurer of the PCHEI and completed the redevelopment of the new IAUCC website.

Attending training for trainers to deliver the ‘Identifying & Responding to Distressed and At

Risk Students’ programme.

Hosted the PCHEI annual conference.

Attended COSRT workshop on ‘The Impact of Trauma on Intimacy & Contact’

Institute wide collaborations: The Service worked in collaboration with the Disability Service and the Centre for Learning & Teaching to set up placement programme for trainee Educational Psychologist

Advised and liaised with the Multimedia Department on the parameters and qualify of projects on developing mental health resources.

Co-hosted an end of year workshop for the School of Informatics & Creative Media on strategies for supporting students with learning and psychological disabilities.

Working with the Community:

Organised on campus staging of the excellent local production of the play ‘Cracks’. The was the best attended Fit4 Life project we have run.

Invited to sit on the National Advisory Committee of the EHSTE EU funded ‘It Stops Now’ Study.

Contributed to the submission on funding of SCS to the Minister with responsibility of Mental Health & Ageing .

Collaboration with Toastmasters (Dundalk Group) on campus for the development of a workshop for students on public speaking skills. Two very successful well attended

courses were held this year.

Contributed to the Consultation Day of the You Mental Health Task Force.

Was a member of the interview board in DIT for the appointment of full time and sessional counsellors.

Challenges for the Service: A particular challenge in the last year was trying to manage numbers similar to last year without the services of a sessional counsellor in first semester. This resulted in the service having a waiting list in the first semester.

In line with our aim of being a brief therapy service the vast majority of clients attend between 1-4 sessions. However given the dearth of affordable alternatives and the increasing severity of presenting issues we sometimes have to support clients for a much longer period. This is especially true in the case of clients with mental health issues and we have seen nationally over the past decade the mental health needs of students have become increasingly severe. Student Counselling Clients now resemble a ‘clinical’ population in ways never anticipated.

COUNSELLING SERVICE


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Indicator 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 National

Benchmark

No. of clients

% of student body

316 315

6.7%

320 13401

7%

Avg. sessions per client

3.3 4 4.8 3.1

DNA rate

(non attendance)

8% 7.1% 6% N/A

Gender: Female

Male

60.8%

39.2%

55%

45%

55%

45%

Counselling Service Indicators

DNA (non attendance) rate has dropped again this year to 6% which is significantly less than in many other colleges though this is an area not yet reported on nationally. This is gratifying to note and is probably as a result of text reminders being sent out each morning.

It is interesting to note that we have similar numbers from students based in the Carroll’s building as there has been a concern in the past that students from that building felt cut-off from the support services.

In line with the decrease in numbers of mature students in the college due to the improving economic situation our numbers have decreased from 31% last year to 22.5% this year.

The Student Counselling Service statistics are benchmarked against the 2015/16 national statistics from the Irish

Association of University & College Counsellors (IAUCC)

Presenting Issues The top 4 presenting issues are outlined below. The issues are unchanged from last year though Loss has moved up from third to second.

Presenting Issue 15/16 16/17 IAUCC

Anxiety 21% 21% 38.5%

Academic 19% 19% 25.5%

Loss 16.5% 16.5% 7.7%

Relationship 16.1% 16.1% 15.3%

Levels of distress:

All students who attend the service are assessed

for risk based on the evaluation of the counsellor

and a standard clinical measure CORE. At assess-

ment 42 were assessed as at risk of suicide, 11 of

whom were in the moderate to severe range.

This represents an increase of 2.5% on last year’s

figure.

It is worth noting that only 18 clients indicated

that risk brought them to counselling while thera-

pists assessed 42 as being at risk.


The Disability Service provides supports and advocates on behalf of any student with a physical, sensory or learning difficulty, or has a mental health condition that interferes with the learning process.

Over the past year, 274 students have availed of the service, an 8% increase on the previous year. The biggest increase continues to be with students with Asperger's.

DkIT were part of a trial group which included Maynooth, Trinity, UCC, NUIG and IT Tralee to pilot the new DAWN guidelines on reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. From this, a new standard Needs Assessment document has been issued, which will be used in the future.

All first year nursing students attended a meeting with the Disability Office before going on placement to discuss disclosure as per the Guidelines for supporting nursing students drafted last year.

Staff Training & Development Training on implementing Guidelines for Reasonable Accommodations—DIT

Workshop on Funds for Students with Disabilities

CPD on Counselling and Career Guidance—Trinity College

TextHelp webinar

NCGE online course on guidance for students going abroad

Institute and Community Collaborations

Workshops with students on Strategic Planning

Member of DAWN (Disability Advisors Working Network

Member of AHEAD (Association for Higher Education and Disability)

Better Options Fair, UCD

Careers event with Employability Louth, DkIT

Service Indicators

Challenges for the Service The biggest increase in numbers attending the Service continues to be with students with Asperger's and the need to provide a ‘quiet room/space‘ for these students is an issue.

DISABILITY & STUDENT QUALITY SERVICE

Nu

mb

ers

atten

din

g

20

15

/16

Nu

mb

ers

atten

din

g

20

16

/17

Number of students registered with the Service

254 274

Number students eligible for Fund for Students with a Disability (FSD)

150 162

Dyslexia Screening 10 5

Dyslexia Screening – subsequently diagnosed

4 2

Number of students requiring Personal Assistants

4 6

No. of part-time students registered

0 5


17

Disability Registered

20

11

/12

20

12

/13

20

13

/14

20

14

/15

20

15

/16

20

16

/17

Specific Learning Difficulty 87 122 129 145 148 155

Physical Mobility 4 5 5 6 7 10

Blind/Visually Impaired 4 3 4 4 3 2

Deaf/Hard of Hearing 5 2 2 3 5 4

Mental Health Difficulties 3 12 17 24 22 19

Aspergers Syndrome 4 5 7 11 14 20

ADHD/ADD 4 3 5 4 4 5

DCD/Dyspraxia 0 3 4 5 11 10

Neurological Condition 0 2 2 7 9 14

Significant ongoing

illness/Other

12 11 19 20 31 35

TOTAL 123 168 194 229 254 274

The Disability Office provides

supports and advocates on

behalf of students

Students registered with Disability Office


With over 60 sporting clubs and non-sporting societies in DkIT, including a number of new clubs/societies and events, it has once again been a very active year for all concerned. Our sports teams continue to improve with our GAA and Basketball teams due to compete at the top grades next year. Student Support Ireland have stated that we are in the top 5 colleges for participation in their competitions. Our international students are the driving force behind a number of these clubs and they take great pride in representing DkIT.

Sports Highlights The GAA retained the Trench Cup by beating

Waterford IT in the Connaught GAA Centre of Excellence.

The senior team reached the Division 2 All Ireland league semi-final for the third year in a row. They lost out to an impressive Garda College side by 4 points in a thrilling match.

DkIT senior GAA team have qualified to compete in the Sigerson Cup for the first time since 2008.

The Fresher’s Gaa reached the All Ireland Division 2 semi-final but lost out to a Tralee IT team full of Kerry underage stars.

DkIT soccer B team reached the semi-final of the league after topping their group. They also reached the semi-final of the Cup and will be hoping to progress further next year.

DkIT Archery Club finished second in the Colleges Intervarsity League. Last year they won this competition and they went very close to replicating that success this year. A number of students won individual competitions throughout

the year.

Our Men’s Basketball Team qualified for the Division 2 League final. Unfortunately they lost in overtime to Letterkenny after the game had finished level at full time. The team still earn promotion to the top division of college basketball.

DkIT Table Tennis Club once again performed very well at the top level. For the first time ever we entered three teams in competition.

Sports Scholarship student Carla Rowe received her second ladies GAA All Star.

Sports Scholarship student Joseph Halwax picked up a silver medal in the 400m hurdles at the outdoor inter-varsities. This is the first medal we have received at this level in over 5 years. Joe now qualifies for the Irish University squad.

Soccer Scholarship student Georgie Poynton won Irish U-19 International Player of the year at the ‘Three FAI International Football Awards which took place in RTE Studios.

Joe O’ Donoghue was selected as goalkeeper on the Independent Sport GAA Higher Education Rising Stars tem for 2017.

DkIT Sports Scholars, Kieran Duffy and Eunan Walsh were listed in the Gaelic Life Team of the Week in February after their performances in the Trench Cup.

Society Highlights Islamic Society - The DkIT Islamic Society picked

up the ‘Best Community Engagement Award’ from the Federation of students of Islamic

Societies in Ireland and UK (FOSIS)

Volunteer Society - were rewarded for their work in the local community when they won ‘Volunteer Team of the Year’ at the Louth Participation Awards.

Two Chinese achieved great success in the recent Dublin City Championships. Wei Wang from Bejing and Ke Ren from Kunming joined the Irish Dancing Society for the first time three years ago when they started in DkIT. Under the tutelage of Tom Quinn they learned the history of Irish Dancing and were also introduced to Irish music and culture.

In February the Asian Society organised its annual Sprint Festival Ball in celebration of the Chinese New Year with over 180 students and educational groups from the Chinese Embassy in attendance

The Photo Society proved once again to be one of our most popular societies with an average attendance of over 30 on their weekly organised trips.

Service Indicators

SPORTS AND SOCIETIES

Membership 2015

Numbers

2016

Numbers

2017

Numbers

Sports Clubs 2,722 3,096 2,875

Society 1,843 2,354 1,721


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Marketing

One of the main objectives in the Sports and Societies Office is to make competing and participating for DkIT attractive and to create a sense of belonging. The brand is going from strength to strength with the leisure were and match wear proving very popular with students. This year we hope to introduce gym wear in association with DkIT Sport.

We will be focusing on using snapchat more next year as this is very popular with students.

Community Links The Sports and Societies Office hosted the following events:

Louth Cross Country Championships in October in partnership with Louth Athletics

Annual GAA Louth All-Star presentations in December, organised by the DkIT GAA Club.

‘Rugby Future Stars’ for the second year in partnership with Leinster Rugby. Leinster and Ireland stars Dave Kearney, Dominic Ryan and Bryan Byrne were in attendance.

Annual Fit 4 Life programme was launch during the mini sign up day. The aim of the programme is to promote the overall health and well-being of the DkIT staff, students and local community. Once again the programme was designed around

the DkIT 10K Run. A training programme was designed and weekly sessions took place on campus leading up to the Run.

DkIT GAA Club hosted the annual Brendan Carthy Cup 7-a-side tournament for U16 Boys on Wednesday 5th April. This involved 24 teams from 18 schools across Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Dublin and Down with a total of 230 boys participating in the event.

The Sports & Societies Office in partnership with the Students Union hosted the DkIT 10K Walk/Run on 25th April. This year the event was held in DkIT Sport which proved to be a huge success. Another change was the introduction of a 5K walk which was well received. Donations of €2,000 to Oran’s Foundation and €1,500 to the Birches were made from proceeds raised.

Parkrun Dundalk—organise free, weekly, 5K timed runs around the world. DkIT hosts the parkrun with between 80-150 people participating on campus each week.

DkIT hosted a number of training days for elite underage sports squads to make potential students aware of our facilities including Louth and Down GAA Squads and Dundalk FC and Cavan/Monaghan soccer clubs. All were very impressed with the facility.

Sports Scholarship Programme DkIT is continuing to work with various organisations to continue to develop the Sports Scholarship Programme. Currently the following Sports Scholarship Schemes are available:

DkIT and Dundalk F.C. Soccer Scholarship

DkIT and Drogheda Utd F.C. Soccer Scholarship

DkIT and Louth GAA Scholarships

DkIT GAA Scholarship

DkIT General Elite Athlete Scholarship.

Our successful teams were backboned by scholarship students and we are starting to attract a higher calibre of athlete to DkIT.

Challenges for the Service Sports Scholarship Programme

To continue to develop we need to retain and expand our scholarship programme. We have increased the amount of income from sponsorship which can be used to support the programme.

Space

Managing the MPC continues to be difficult with exams, open days and other events. When the space is unavailable it can hamper attendance when the club has built up momentum. The installation of a multipurpose surface at DkIT Sport Facility is required.

Pitch Facilities

Whilst the surface of the pitches are excellent we are falling behind other colleges with regards facilities. A number of colleges have stand alone dressing rooms, spectator seating, ball stop nets, scoreboards etc. We are also restricted to the times we can use the pitches (no matches on Sunday). Long term it is important that we develop stand-alone dressing rooms closer to the pitches to alleviate this problem.

Commuter College

Close to 80% of students commute on a daily basis which continues to be a challenge to our sports teams. Students who have to catch a bus at 5pm are less likely to stay for training/matches. Providing accommodation on site for elite sports people may be a possible solution.

2014 2015 2016 2017

Facebook likes 1500 2700 4200 5001

Twitter followers 650 1313 1735 1872

Instagram Followers - - 315 528


STUDENT ASSISTANCE FUND The Student Assistance Fund (SAF) is funded by the Irish Government and part funded by the European Social Fund under the Human Capital Investment Operational Programme. The fund provides limited support for full-time student who are in severe financial difficulties due to unforeseen circumstances, or who are disadvantaged and require additional financial support to enable them is so far as possible to participate fully in their studies while at the Institute.

The fund is administered by the Student Services Centre overseen by the Student Assistant Fund Committee. Students who applied for funding are required to produce financial information to support their application and were assessed on an individual basis.

Service Indicators

Challenges for the Service Student applications for funding continued to increase with a high number of students seeking financial support. Funding was up slightly on the previous year with more students supported by the fund.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Category of Financial Assistance

2015/16 2016/17

€

Living Expenses 211,450 200,455

Childcare 1,500 1,300

Rent 5,900 24,700

Transport 4,975 740

Books/Class Materials - 190

Medical - -

Hardship - 1,624

2015/16 2016/17

Funding Allocated €228,132 €228,999

Number of applicants for financial assistance

318 344

Successful applicants gaining financial assistance

272 294

The Student Assistance

Fund disbursed €228,999

to 294 students during the

year.


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Yes 91.30% No 8.70%

STUDENT SERVICES SURVEY

Would you recommend the service to other students?

Overall awareness of services

has increased on the previous

year.

All students were surveyed at the end of the academic year to determine their knowledge and experience of Student Services. The response as in previous years is quite low with regard to the numbers surveyed. The following are some of the key findings:


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How would you rate the communication/marketing of each of the services?

How satisfied are you with the service you received?

Very Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied

Counselling Service 31% 14% 50% 0% 5%

Careers Service 20% 23% 44% 6% 8%

Chaplaincy Service 14% 9% 69% 2% 6%

Disability Service 30% 13% 54% 2% 1%

Health Unit 32% 31% 28% 6% 3%

Sports & Societies 30% 34% 30% 2% 4%

Very Good Good Average Poor

Counselling Service 25% 38% 28% 9%

Careers Service 20% 32% 27% 20%

Chaplaincy Service 17% 31% 31% 21%

Disability Service 20% 36% 27% 17%

Health Unit 29% 32% 24% 15%

Sports & Societies 45% 39% 12% 4%

Communications has improved for most of the services. Respondents looked for more updates on the services,

a better website and posters. Class visits were requested for all students to update on the services.

All students were surveyed, some of whom did not avail of any of the support services resulting in a high per-

centage of neutral responses.

Satisfaction has improved for all services.

91% of those surveyed

would recommend the

Services to other students.


Documents

Student Service Annual Report 2016 – 2017 · Student Service Annual Report 2016 – 2017 5 STUDENT SERVIES ORGANISATION HART Academic Administration & Student Affairs Manager Linda