Studying in Ireland

1. Graduate starting salaries are at a high of €33k*
2. Dublin is home to large and prestigious organisations such as Google, Facebook, Accenture, Hubspot, Mastercard and Salesforce – the perfect place for you, an aspiring global business professional
3. In late 2018, employment levels reached an all-time high* in Dublin, which along with the prestigious organisations based in Dublin, offers huge employment potential for graduates
4. A 12-month post-student work permit enables graduates to gain invaluable experience with these companies or one of the numerous start-ups based in the city
5. A city-centre campus in the heart of Dublin – equipped with modern facilities and positioned perfectly, connecting you to work opportunities

City College Dublin welcome applications from international students. Please contact our International Admissions team by stating your nationality, current location, name and phone number. Currently, City College Dublin uses the Irish Qualification Recognition Service and the UK’s National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) to map international qualifications onto the Irish Framework.

For entry requirements, please check the individual course information pages on this site or contact a member of our Admissions Team. For applicants whose first language is not English an IELTS certificate or equivalent recognised English proficiency examination may also be required.

International applicants, who require a visa to travel to Ireland for the purposes of studying one of our programmes, are advised to use the services of an City College Dublin authorised education agent. City College Dublin works closely with selected agencies overseas. For a list of our trusted agents, please contact our International Admissions team by emailing international@citygroup.ie.

Visa required students can apply directly through a relevant application form on our website or may be guided to submit application through an City College Dublin approved education agent.

Students should provide the following documents to have the application considered:

• Completed Application form
• Supporting educational documentation (to include an official English translation, if applicable)
• Copy of Passport
• Copy of Valid IELTS or equivalent English certification (minimum IELTS requirement of 6.0 Bands)

Once your application is received, we will send you on the following information:

• Summary of the course programme contents
• Applicable programme fee, payment requirements and refund conditions (if applicable)
• Course Academic entry requirements
• Course English language entry requirements
• Details of City College Dublin protections arrangements and refunds policy
• Details of any scholarship offered (if available)

Once your application has been reviewed by our Admissions team, should your application be accepted, we will then send you an Unconditional Offer letter once the applicant has fulfilled any additional requirements.

Your Unconditional offer letter will include:

• Confirmation of an offer of a place on your chosen programme
• Details of our Induction process, academic calendar and support services available to our students.
• A link to our Code of Practice for the Provision of Education to International Learners.
• Procedures that apply when a student withdraws or fails to attend or participate as required by the college.
• Circumstances in which the College may terminate its tuition contract with a student.
• These circumstances may include the submission of fraudulent documentation by the student.

Depending on your nationality you may be required to apply for a visa to study in Ireland. For full and complete information on visa requirements please visit the Irish Immigration website.

It is the enrolling student’s responsibility to inform us when they have submitted their visa application. A visa reference number and date of submission of visa application is required. A full list of the required documents for visa application can be seen here.

Should your visa application be refused a refund (Less a €150 administration fee) will be returned to you. Please note that we reserve the right not to refund fees where false, fraudulent, or fake documents have been submitted as part of a visa application.

Should your visa application be successful you are required to send confirmation to us directly with a copy of the stamp on your passport.

Please allow sufficient time to process the visa application as this can take anything from 4-16 weeks to process.

You will also need to advise us when you hope to travel before the start of the course so that we can provide additional details to you such as; accommodation, timetables, registration and induction schedule and possible part-time job opportunities available (if required)

All Visa requiring international students are required to have private medical insurance, either personally or through a group scheme at time of registration. To support you meeting this requirement City College Dublin’s tuition fees for visa requiring international students includes payment for an approved insurance policy, which the College purchases for you upon receipt of full tuition fee payment.

Buy Medical Insurance

Medical insurance is a requirement for an Irish Study Visa, which must include hospital cover and a minimum of €25,000 for accident and €25,000 disease.

Medical Insurance Providers

Students can buy medical insurance from any provider in their home country (first year only*) or from Ireland. Students should ensure that the insurance policy meets their needs and pre-existing conditions.

*International Students can buy medical insurance from their home country for their first year in Ireland. After that, students must buy insurance from an Irish Provider.

There are two types of medical insurance policies that students can buy from Irish providers:

1. Travel Policy: These policies are cheaper than private medical insurance. From 2nd October 2020 this type of policy is only available to students who are on enrolled a course of 12 months or less duration. They are designed specifically for International students and meet student visa requirements. The travel policy that students most commonly buy is from:
   • Studyandprotect.com
2. Private Medical Insurance: From 2nd October 2020, Students in Ireland enrolled on a course that is more than 12 months duration, must buy private medical insurance. International students can buy private medical insurance that is specifically designed for international students from the following providers:
   • Studyandprotect.com: see their guide for more information on the Study & Protect private insurance
   • VHI: see their most up to date brochure and short video presentation on VHI private insurance

City College Dublin, does provide the option to purchase medical insurance from an approved vendor as part of the application and payment process. This fee is included in Higher Education courses and is provided separately for English Language students.

Learner Protection is provided by Arachas Learner Protection Programme and underwritten by Aviva Insurance Ltd. The current fee is 3.5% of the tuition fee. Protection of Enrolled Learners in accordance with section 65(4)(b) of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 (hereafter the 2012 Act), are covered under this agreement for the duration of the agreement.

Our dedicated accommodation team will help you find the right accommodation for your budget.

We will consider your special requirements, likes and dislikes and will match the best accommodation option to your needs.

We offer a choice of onsite student residence, homestay accommodation and student apartments/flats.

Level 7 & Level 8 (QQI Awarded Programmes)

For applicants whose first language is not English, the minimum English language requirement for entry to our higher education programmes and the minimum requirement is outlined below

It is College policy that attendance is taken for all students, irrespective of nationality. NonEU students are required by the GNIB to have a minimum attendance of 85%.

It is the responsibility of lecturers to take attendance in class. Completed attendance sheets are signed by the lecturer and kept in the Faculty Office.

Lecturers should ensure that the number of students in the class corresponds with the number of signatures on a sheet. Should they not correspond (due to students signing for colleagues) then a new sheet should be handed out.

A certain level of discretion is necessary with lateness, but typically a student should not be allowed to register their attendance if they arrive more than 15 minutes late.

Attendance Monitoring

1. Students are required to attend lectures, lecture-seminars and lecture- workshops for the modules for which they are registered. There are likely to be instances when absence due to illness or other reasons may arise. All absence is required to be covered by a medical or similar certificate and CEG administration is required to be informed by the student of the rationale for their absence.
2. In the case of absence due to illness, or to extenuating exceptional circumstances, (e.g. bereavement), CEG will be sympathetic. Staff will provide all possible guidance to enable students to maintain progress on their programme of study. The Student Support Officer engages with students to provide support.
3. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that his/her attendance is noted at each lecture/seminar/workshop. If there are medical reasons for any absence, medical evidence (e.g. certificate from the GP or hospital) must be presented to the Programme Leader and/or CEG nominated administrative officer.
4. If the Director/Dean is of the opinion that the student’s attendance has been consistently below the required levels for progression within a programme and/or module then CEG may decide to terminate the registration of the student – this decision can only be determined by the Academic Board.

Students have five days from the date of their absence to submit a Medical Certificate to their faculty. Absence due to sickness should be communicated to the Programme Administrator on the day of the illness and on any subsequent day(s) of sick leave. Attendance registers are saved within each faculty and are also available to International Office. Hard copies of the signed attendance sheets are kept for a minimum of 12 months.

A student’s absence from class may be excused in cases of certified illness.

It is a statutory requirement for students to attend 85% of their programme. A student’s absence from class may be excused in cases of certified illness as per the steps below.

1. Where a student is sick they must email or phone their Programme Administrator responsible person on the day of the illness and any subsequently day(s).
2. On the first day of return, the student must present a Medical Certificate Uncertified sick leave beyond the statutory requirement of 85% is subject to the College procedure regarding absenteeism and expulsion.

Students are not permitted to take holidays during the normal College semester. The Academic Calendar details the start and end dates for each semester per academic year. Requests for leave of absence will be considered in exceptional circumstances, e.g. illness or family bereavement. Students wishing to request a leave of absence must make a formal request in writing to their Faculty Office and must support their request with the submission of relevant documentation.

Uncertified absenteeism is considered a breach of the learner code of conduct of Progressive College. It demonstrates a wilful neglect of the learning process and as such is subject to the academic misconduct procedure. The steps below set out the criteria whereby a learner may be subject to disciplinary action as a result of continued and persistent uncertified absenteeism. It is also essential that learners are punctual when arriving to class. Any learner arriving more than 15 minutes late for a class or class segment will be marked absent for that period. Please refer to the published policy on attendance for more details.

Process for dealing with Absenteeism

Progressive College advises students as follows:

1. Any uncertified absence of 3 days either consecutively or within a given week requires the College to contact the student and warn them as to their attendance. This is the responsibility of the Programme Director/Year Head.
2. The disciplinary procedure (from Academic Misconduct Procedure) is to be invoked when a learner has 25% uncertified absence over any given period of 6 weeks in duration. It is the responsibility of the Programme Director to initiate proceedings.
3. Upon the outcome of the disciplinary hearing, the attendance of the learner is reported to the GNIB and INIS. The reporting of this is the responsibility of the Visa Officer.
4. Where the 25% uncertified absence occurs in the first six weeks of the programme GNIB and INIS will be informed
5. In line with City College’s Quality Assurance policy, all records pertaining to formal correspondence in respect of disciplinary action will be retained for a minimum of two years.

Programme fees are refundable in the case of valid and documented visa refusals. Further information is available here.

The College is committed to ensure that any complaints or grievances will be treated fairly, impartially, effectively and in a timely manner. Complaints / grievance procedures cover a range of issues including: admissions, programme and examinations.

• Where feasible complaints may be resolved informally.
• ll written complaints must be directed to the Academic Administrator.
• On receipt of a complaint, the Academic Administrator will contact the complainant and acknowledge receipt of the complaint.
• Complete grievance procedure details are listed in the Quality Manual Section 7.5.
• The complainant will be informed that an investigation into the nature of the complaint will be carried out, and that the complainant will be informed of the outcome of the investigation within 10 working days.
• The complainant will be contacted on completion of the investigation and informed of the outcome, and any corrective action that may be taken.

Learners Appeals Procedure

Learner appeals procedure can be invoked following the release of a learners result from a module assessment or assignment. The complete appeals procedure is detailed in Section 10 of this document.

Guidelines on Disciplinary Procedure

College Discipline – On enrolment, the Learner subscribes to the regulations of the College and is bound to observe them. All procedures for disciplinary processes are detailed in the Quality Manual, Section 7.13.3, Student Code of Conduct. A Learner who fails to meet the required standards of the programme in any of the following areas may be subject to the regulations detailed in the relevant section of the Quality Manual:

• Class (and Work Experience where relevant) behaviour
• Discipline
• Assignment work
• Class (and work experience, where relevant) attendance
• Respect for others attending the programme
• Threatening behaviour towards another Learner or a Lecturer
• Breach of Assessment and Examination regulations

At Student Orientation, a member of staff will explain the rules, regulations, disciplinary procedures and related matters. Learners will be required to sign a declaration of understanding of the college rules and regulations. This signed declaration will be kept in the Learner’s file.

The College reserves the right to withdraw a Learner from the course.

The assessment of participants and the integrity of our examination process are of great importance to the College. All Learners must abide by the following guidelines:

• Learners must carefully note the date, time and location of all written examinations.
• Learners are required to be in the examination centre 10 minutes prior to the commencement of the examination.
• Learners will not be admitted to the examination centre later than 30 minutes after the commencement of the exam.
• Learners will not be allowed to leave the examination centre until after 30 minutes from the commencement of the exam.
• Each Learner must sign the appropriate sign in sheet for his / her group for each examination.
• Mobile phones must be switched off before the examination commences.
• Please ensure that you have the correct examination paper before you commence. If not; please notify the invigilator straight away.
• Please read all instructions on the examination carefully.
• Learners shall not have in their possession or bring the following into the exam:
  • Dictionaries
  • Communication devices
  • Books, notes or paper– all paper will be provided.
  • Pencil cases
• During the exam, Learners must not communicate with or attempt to communicate with any other candidate.
• No Learner shall aid, attempt to aid, pass or receive materials to or from another Learner, or obtain/attempt to obtain assistance from another.
• A Learner whose behaviour is disruptive and who persists in such a behaviour following a warning shall be expelled by the invigilator from the exam. In such circumstances, all material issued to the Learner shall be retained by the invigilator.
• Retention of any unauthorised material shall be taken as constituting evidence of infringement of the regulations and shall be reported by the invigilator to the College, where appropriate disciplinary action shall be taken.
• A participant who leaves the exam during any period of the exam without the permission of the invigilator shall not be readmitted during that exam. The invigilator shall record any such event.
• At the conclusion of the exam, Learners should stop writing immediately and give all answer materials to the examiner.

Examination Deferral

If a Learner wishes to defer an in-house examination, the Learner is required to email the College at least 3 working days prior to the scheduled examination date. The deferral application will be considered by the Registrar in consultation with the Programme Leader, provided that the application meets the criteria for extenuating or mitigating circumstances. The College will consider extenuating circumstances for a Learner having to defer an examination as below:

• Recent bereavement of a close family member or partner
• Severe accident
• Medical condition
• Other, please contact the College

Feedback on your Examinations

• The College is committed to providing timely and constructive feedback to Learners.
• Feedback is provided to Learners on a module by module basis.
• This feedback is communicated to the Learner by email or via the Moodle portal.

Non-EU/Non-EEA students are required to show proof of comprehensive medical insurance when applying for a visa for Ireland (where relevant) and when registering with the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) on arrival in Ireland. Students are required to arrange their own insurance cover – it is not arranged by the College.

For more information, please click here: INIS Medical Insurance Requirement

Accidents and Emergencies

It is extremely important that any accident or injury is immediately reported to a member of staff in order to facilitate prompt medical attention. In the absence of a member of staff in the vicinity of the incident, Reception should be notified, Security may also be contacted at +353 1 4160034.

Evacuation and Fire Alarm Response

All College buildings are equipped with fire alarm systems and fire extinguishers. The fire alarms will be activated and the buildings evacuated if a fire or other incident occurs which endangers persons inside the buildings. As stated in the College’s Safety Statement whenever a fire alarm is activated you are required to evacuate the building, go to your nearest assembly point and do not return to the building until the all clear is given by a Fire Marshall or designated member of Staff. If you discover a fire or other incident which endangers the people inside a building, raise the alarm by breaking the nearest available break glass point and then follow the evacuation procedures. Do not attempt to tackle a fire. Please co-operate with all instructions from a Fire Marshall or designated member of Staff. Please note: Fire drills are conducted from time to time. As with actual fire alarms, fire drills require immediate evacuation of the building and outdoor assembly. Please make yourself aware of your nearest means of escape.

Property and Equipment

You must not intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse any equipment etc. provided for the safety, health or welfare of students and staff. Should you become aware of any defect in equipment, or of property, place of work or system of work, which might endanger safety, health or welfare you are requested to report this to a member of staff.

Police

Ireland’s national police service is called the Garda Síochána, officers are called Gardaí or ‘Guards’. Full details of national and local Garda Stations can be found at www.garda.ie

Reporting Incidents

If you are a victim of crime, you should report it to the Gardaí as soon as possible after the incident has taken place.

There are two ways to report incidents:

(i) You can dial 999/112 free of charge from any landline phone in the country and this will put you in contact with the Emergency Services (Gardaí, Fire Department, Ambulance etc.).

Please note: These numbers should only be used in emergency. It is a criminal offence to make prank calls to the emergency services.

(ii) You can visit your local Garda Station and complete an Incident Report Form. The Incident Report Form is also available online at: www.garda.ie. A pre-completed form will speed up the reporting of an incident.

When reporting an incident, the following information will help with any subsequent investigation:

• Your personal details, i.e. name, address and telephone number(s).
• The victim’s details (if other than yourself), i.e. name, address, and telephone number(s).
• The incident details, i.e. location/day/date/time of the incident.
• A brief description about the incident including details of the occurrence, any description of the culprit if known, i.e. clothes, physical appearance, or any distinguishing features like a tattoo or scar.
• List of property stolen or damaged, in the case of a burglary.
• Any further information that you think will aid the Gardaí with their enquiries.
• If your vehicle has been stolen, the following information should be provided:
  • Registration number
  • Make and model of the vehicle
  • Distinguishing features i.e. colour, any modifications etc.

What to do in Case of Emergency

In an emergency you can dial 999/112 free of charge from any landline phone in the country and this will put you in contact with the emergency services (Gardaí, Fire Department, Ambulance etc.). There are a number of Health and Safety/First Aid courses available in each area that teach First Aid skills such as how to treat minor wounds, how to support a person who has been in a serious accident etc. More information on First Aid is available on www.safetyireland.com.

Legal Matters

From time to time you may require legal advice regarding an issue that neither your friends nor City College Dublin can help you with. You may be facing discrimination from an employer, abuse from a neighbour etc., and you may want to seek legal advice. There are free legal advice centres around Dublin staffed by professional lawyers who work to ensure that everyone has access to legal guidance, regardless of their financial circumstances. The Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) is one such organisation. Information on this organisation can be found on their website: www.flac.ie. Another useful resource is the network of Citizens Information Centres. Contact details are available online at www.citizensinformation.ie.

Health Information

Opening Hours Monday to Friday Mornings: Drop-In Facility Available from 09.30am – 11.30am Afternoons: Patients seen by appointment only.

Cost EU/EEA students who have a European Health Insurance Card can benefit from free medical care. Non-EU students: €45 per visit (You are required to show your student card)

The main Dublin Hospitals are as follows:

St. James’s Hospital James’s Street, Dublin 1 Tel: 01 410 3000
Tallaght Hospital Tallaght, Dublin 24 Tel: 01 414 2000
Beaumont Hospital Beaumont Road, Dublin 9 Tel: 01 809 3000
Mater Hospital Eccles Street, Dublin 7 Tel: 01 803 2000

Pharmacies/Chemists

Pharmacies/Chemists are generally open from 09:00 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday. Some have late-night opening hours and are also open on Sundays and these are usually located in the city centre or in busy districts such as Rathmines and Harold’s Cross. Pharmacies/Chemists stock a wide range of prescription and non-prescription medicines. The staff can advise you as to which is the most suitable for your condition or whether you should consult a doctor. In addition, most pharmacies sell first-aid, sun and skin care products, toiletry items and contraceptives.

Dental Care

Dental care is not covered under the College’s Medical Insurance Plan. Dental treatment is very expensive in Ireland. The economical option is to visit the Dublin Dental Hospital, where you can receive treatment at a reduced price from trainee dentists under supervision.

Dublin Dental Hospital

Lincoln Place Dublin 2 Tel: 01 612 7200 E-mail: info@dental.tcd.ie

Optical Care

Optical care is not covered under your student Medical Insurance Plan so you should shop around for the best value. Some Opticians offer student rates, e.g. discounted eye examinations at certain times of the week. Glasses and contact lenses are expensive in Ireland so if you are in need of optical care, it might be wiser to wait until your next visit to your home country and avail of these services there instead.

Safety on Campus

This booklet has been produced by the Garda Síochána (Irish Police Force)