[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith the year coming to an end, Manus McLoughlin, the first ever Vice President for Education and Placement in DCU spoke to The College View about his highs and lows of the year.
McLoughlin said that the biggest challenges he faced throughout the year were due to the amalgamation of campuses into DCU.
“I can openly say that DCU have made every single effort to accommodate every student in the amalgamation,” he said.
“Because I was formerly a Pat’s student myself they [St Patrick’s College students] felt that they could complain easily to me and that kind of made my life difficult because I was trying to relay complaints from one campus up to the other and it’s much more influential if a student comes in with that complaint as opposed to just a sabbatical saying there’s a complaint.”
He felt that his main achievements during the year consisted of getting equal library opening hours across all campuses of DCU as well as getting the library to stay open for 24 hours in the lead up to exams.
McLoughlin, along with Eimear Maguire, VP for Engagement and Development, worked to get the graduation ceremonies of final year students of St.Patrick’s campus to be on their own campus during the time of the 5th goujon campaign which McLoughlin felt overshadowed the issue.
However, they managed to negotiate having the graduation reception on St Patrick’s College campus while still holding the ceremonies in the Helix for the next two years.
In an effort to reach all the students who have placement, McLoughlin decided to record students’ shared experiences of their work placements and email these videos out to all students before starting their placements. He covered the four teaching placements and is currently working on the Nursing placement videos and confirmed that his successor Matthew Davey will continue his work.
McLoughlin looks forward to going back studying in his final year in St Patrick’s College and seeing student problems first hand as well as being his class representative.
Elsa McEvoy
Image Credit: DCU Students’ Union