Engagement
Building Transformative Partnerships…
DCU is Ireland’s university of enterprise – and our focused partnerships are instrumental in advancing our impact on lives and communities. Our connections to our alumni community and industry partners help us reinforce the future skills that young people will need to excel in an unscripted future, and enable us to achieve even more for our students and for society.
DCU Access to the Workplace
The award-winning DCU Access to the Workplace programme marked a sixth successful year of student internships in 2024. This transformative programme aims to level the playing field for student groups who experience disadvantage in the workplace following graduation. Since 2019, the programme has provided 397 high-quality summer internships for DCU Access students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, and for neurodivergent students. This summer, over 59 partner companies offered placements to 79 DCU students.
DCU Access to the Workplace is made possible by the leading Irish companies who host our students and support Access scholarships at DCU. The programme is supported by partners LinkedIn and Rethink Ireland’s Scaling Education Fund, enabling the programme’s growth and development to 2025.
“This programme is so important to our students and our society. It provides DCU students who may not have the same network and opportunities as their peers with high-quality professional internships – and it gives our partner companies the chance to benefit from the incredible talent we see in our students.”
Fiona Hudson, Programme Development Lead, DCU Access to the Workplace
STEM Teacher Internship Programme
The STEM Teacher Internship Programme (STInt) is a DCU initiative that promotes innovative learning in STEM education by supporting internship opportunities for pre-service and early career teachers.
This summer, 67 pre-service and early career interns worked as interns in 41 partner companies. Through these 12-week paid internships, teachers gained first-hand experience of the diverse range of STEM careers and opportunities available. To date, STInt has placed 310 teachers in hands-on roles in 64 of Ireland’s leading companies.
These placements are only possible thanks to funding by our partners Skillnet Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, the Department of Education and Intel, alongside the engagement of our industry partners in technology, professional services, pharma and medical devices. Thanks to our partners, STInt interns will go on to inspire a passion for STEM in future generations, potentially impacting over 1.2 million learners during their careers in Irish classrooms.
In a successful year for STInt, programme leader Dr Eilish McLoughlin was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2023 Women in STEM Awards for her work with STInt and other STEM initiatives.
Teachers Inspire
Teachers play a vital role in preparing future generations with the skills they need to shape our society. Teachers Inspire is an Ireland-wide initiative, supported by leading businessman and philanthropist, Dermot Desmond, that seeks to celebrate our teachers and to recognise the transformative role they play in our lives and in our communities. Teachers Inspire 2024 was curated by acclaimed author Louise O’Neill, with the campaign gathering stories of teachers who have made a difference from across the country. The four winners of Teachers Inspire for 2024 were Jill Farrell, Joe O’Driscoll, Meg Offiah and Ursula O’Mahoney.
DCU Alumni Give Back
Our alumni community makes a significant impact at DCU through philanthropic support that funds transformative scholarships and greatly enhances our student facilities. In 2023/24, a number of initiatives also brought DCU graduates together to give back alongside their classmates.
St Patrick's Class of 1974
Class of 1974
In DCU’s largest ever alumni reunion, St Patrick’s Class of 1974 returned to campus to celebrate their 50th Anniversary Reunion. A total of 140 alumni and class guests gathered for an afternoon of celebrations, rekindled memories, and to remember those classmates no longer with us.
In a moving gesture, the class used the occasion as an opportunity to give back to the University. Their class gift to the DCU Excellence and Opportunity Fund will support students in DCU Institute of Education to overcome socioeconomic obstacles and achieve their potential as future educators, like so many in the Class of 1974 before them.
DCU Alumni Office supports our graduates to stay connected with their classmates. For help facilitating your class reunion, contact alumni@dcu.ie.
Class Champions
Students and their families are facing ever-increasing financial challenges that can stand in the way of bright minds fulfilling their potential. In response, DCU Educational Trust launched a new collaboration with DCU’s alumni community in 2024. Our Class Champions are DCU graduates who believe in sharing the life-changing opportunities of their own DCU experience with future generations, and want to inspire their classmates to join them in giving back to DCU.
We are deeply appreciative of all our alumni who have joined us in breaking down barriers and enabling talented students to excel by donating to DCU’s Excellence and Opportunity Fund. To find out more about becoming a Class Champion, email Inís Fitzpatrick at alumnigiving@dcu.ie.
Celebrating Our Philanthropic Partners
In February 2024, DCU Educational Trust’s annual Leadership Circle Dinner brought together over 200 of our leading friends and supporters to celebrate their collective contribution to DCU’s mission to transform lives and societies.
At this year’s event, KPMG was announced as the winner of the DCU Corporate Leadership Award for 2023/24. For over four decades, KPMG has been a strong supporter of accounting education at DCU, and in 2022, the leading provider of professional services deepened this support through a new strategic partnership with DCU Business School. Underpinned by philanthropy, this partnership is advancing the Business School’s mission to educate leaders for the global marketplace.
The Individual Leadership Award was awarded in recognition of the many anonymous donors who are a driving force behind DCU’s mission to transform lives and societies. The award was accepted by Community Foundation Ireland, a philanthropic hub that supports anonymous donors to deliver equality and transform lives.
Professor Noel O’Connor, CEO of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, was presented with the DCU Staff Leadership Award at the event, in celebration of his philanthropic leadership and talent for building partnerships that drive innovation, research and inclusion.