AN IRISH UNIVERSITY is now offering students the chance to study doctorate courses online.
In association with Plymouth University, Hibernia College will begin taking applications for online PhD courses, the first college in Ireland to do so. The college will also be awarding three full-time PhDs worth €16,000 each year.
Four programmes relating to education are on offer, from “the impact of learning technologies on learning experiences” to “comparative education and internationalisation”.
Plymouth University has previously worked with Hibernia College in the area of teacher education.
The new programme was launched this morning by Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn, who emphasised the need for “high quality research” in this area:
The 2012 report on the structure of Initial Teacher Education provision in Ireland highlighted the crucial role that high quality research plays in informing best practice in teacher preparation.
President of Hibernia College, Dr Seán Rowland, said that online education will “help expedite the return to more stable economic times” as people can continue to study around their existing lifestyle.
“Higher education has become an absolute necessity in Ireland,” he said, “and will be a major factor in our ability as a country to break out of the recession.”
The 13 year-old online college is currently the only of its kind in Ireland to receive government HETAC accreditation.
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