NCI Blog

This week, National College of Ireland has proudly displayed an exhibition of artwork created by local school children from the Dublin Docklands – and their parents – as part of the Zoom Ahead with Books exhibition, run by the college’s Early Learning Initiative.

Pictured: the ELI Easter Event held at CHQ Dublin last week

The NCI psychology department was delighted to host an international guest speaker at the college today with Dr Melissa Allen from Lancaster University giving a talk entitled Symbolic understanding of pictures in typical development and autism: divergent pathways? (Download the slides from the event

We didn’t shy away from the big questions at the first event of the new series of In The Psychologists’ Chair. Dr Tony Bates, founder and CEO of Headstrong, The National Centre for Youth Mental Health, spoke to a full house on the topic of “Who am I, where am I, and why am I here?”. Drawing on Buddhist parables, poetry and his own extensive experience in working with young people, Dr Bates spoke on the importance of waking up and walking into our own life. Life is that constant losing and finding of your way, he said, and while suffering is inevitable, how we manage it is key.

Fridays don't have to be unproductive. Follow our top career tips for getting the most out of the day.

The CAO Change Your Mind facility opens again on May 5th and, until July 1st , school leavers can make changes to their CAO application as many times as they would like. More than half of CAO applicants in 2014 used the facility to change their choice of course with the main trends being ‘a rise in demand for business, computing and engineering courses”, according to this Irish Independent article. That supports the trend we’ve seen at National College of Ireland where demand continues to increase for our courses in computing and business.

Between the Grammys, the BAFTAs and the Oscars, awards season is well and truly underway - and the world of academia is no different!

In tough economic times, staff training and development budgets are often the first to be cut. It’s easy to see why this happens – training costs money, and the return on investment might not be immediately obvious. It can be hard to secure buy-in from senior leadership. However, as most HR managers know, investing in the personal and professional development of staff can be key to an organisation’s success. If you’re struggling to build a business case, keep reading for the top five reasons that employee training and development is an investment worth making. Greater productivity: a highly skilled and educated workforce will perform to a higher level and be more productive long-term. This can give your company the competitive edge and have a direct impact on your bottom-line. Morale and motivation: training is key to job satisfaction and employee engagement. Engaged workers are happy and productive; disengaged workers are disruptive and can be a negative influence on other staff. Attract and retain the best people for your business: opportunities for professional development are perceived as a benefit and can help you attract, and keep, good staff. You will increase your talent pool and decrease your staff turnover costs. Nurture tomorrow’s leaders: with the right encouragement and support, your staff of today will become your leaders of tomorrow. Without that forward planning, you will have to look outside to meet your leadership needs. Create a learning culture: by encouraging your staff to continuously learn and develop you can create a culture of learning in your business, and foster collaboration and innovation at all levels.

You don’t have to be studying or working in the area of mobile technologies for it to have had a huge impact on your life. (Although if you do want to get into this field, we can help – check out the MSc in Mobile Technologies at National College of Ireland, or learn more about working in this exciting industry). In support of UNESCO’s Mobile Learning Week 2015 (23-27 February) we are asking our students to consider the positive impact of mobile technology on your lives. The theme of this year’s week, which is UNESCO’s flagship ICT in education event, is empowering women and girls - and so we are asking our female students in particular to consider the benefits of mobile technology and how it has changed your life for the better.

Do you want to start a career in Accounting and Finance? NCI can help!