NCI Blog

SU President James Duffy and Clubs and Societies Officer Patrick Erhard give new or prospective students the lowdown on getting the most out of student life. Here, James and Paddy, NCI’s SU President and Clubs and Socs Officer, share their top ten tips for making the most of your student experience during a full-time undergraduate course.

Akshay from India has quickly settled into Irish life. In fact, he is now becoming a little bit Irish himself – “Personally, I much prefer Irish customs, music, and literature”. Akshay is embracing Irish life: rugby, for example, has caught his eye. “I loved having to learn its set of rules as it indirectly makes sport much more interesting”. Now an enthusiast of the Irish daily routine, Akshay believes he is already benefitting enormously by studying in Europe. Akshay is a student of the MSc in Cloud Computing at National College of Ireland. Thus far he has found NCI’s course content relevant and interesting as it mixes theory and practice. Akshay also chose this course as it suits his future professional goals.

You won't even need your runners to benefit from this advice, says NCI's Director of Marketing Rob Ward. People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they'll go to any length to live longer. But don't think that's the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you're going to while away the years, it's far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive then in a fog, and I believe running helps you to do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that's the essence of running, and a metaphor for life — and for me, for writing as whole. I believe many runners would agree,” Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

National College of Ireland is, once again, ranked best for jobs in the Sunday Times annual league tables, The Good University Guide. The college’s award-winning Careers Development and Employability Service is second-to-none, with CV advice being a much utilised facility. Caroline Kennedy, Careers Officer with National College of Ireland (pictured centre, above, with the rest of the Careers Team) has the following advice for creating a CV: “Your CV is your personal sales brochure and should be tailored to the requirements of the position you are applying for. It is one of the most important documents you will write in your professional life and has only one purpose – to get you an interview.”

Committing to part-time study is a big decision – but consider how much you might achieve and how your life might change for the better. If you are considering part-time study or coming back as a mature student, you might be inspired by these stories of students who came back to college later in life.

NCI President Dr. Phillip Matthews spoke at this recent event on the power of empathy to inspire and support performance.

Do you want to start a career in Accounting and Finance? NCI can help! Stephen Harford says that accountancy found him, rather than the other way about – and he’s very happy that it did. The 21-year-old student from Balbriggan, North County Dublin, is in his final year of the BA in Business at National College of Ireland, and recently accepted a position with EY (formerly Ernst & Young) Ireland.

Vice Dean of NCI's School of Computing, Paul Stynes, offers up his tops tips for college students. 1. Attend your lectures You will probably be tired of people saying this but it’s worth repeating: college life is very different to school. The emphasis is on independent learning – which means that your lecturers won’t be on your back in the same way that your parents or teachers might have been. This makes it very tempting to miss the odd lecture but I can’t emphasise enough that for most students, attendance is fundamental to academic success. I will often cover areas that aren’t in the textbooks and go into topics in much greater depth. I will also give advice on assignments, on studying and on exams which will help you to successfully get a degree. I’ve definitely noted a correlation between the students who fail and the students who don’t turn up for their lectures.

An obvious and often underrated means of learning is directly through experience.

NCI Lecturer in Computing, Dr Eugene O’Loughlin, has some advice for his younger self as he starts his college journey.