Students fight back as UCC degree course hangs in the balance
Students at the university have started a petition to save a degree in International Development offered by the college's Business School.
A campaign has been started by a group of students in U.C.C. to stop the cessation of the university’s International Development BSc programme.
This four year degree has been on the curriculum since 2010 and is the only undergraduate course of its kind in Ireland, but a decision has been taken by Cork University Business School (CUBS) to finish offering the course to new students after next year.
The campaign to save the course is being led by led by Freddie Phipps, 29, originally from Shanbally but now living in Grange.
Speaking with T+D in a cafe near U.C.C. last Wednesday afternoon, Freddie gave us an update as to why the students are so unhappy with the decision, as well as why they have decided to come together to try and prevent this from happening.
“If this goes ahead, our degrees will no longer be searchable for future employers and it will really devalue our qualifications! The degree won’t be worthless, but it will certainly be worth less.”
“And it won’t just impact the students, it’s also the teaching staff and all the other people involved in delivering the course who’ll be affected.”
Freddie and the other students in the class can’t understand why the university is not going to continue this programme.
“The degree really falls in line with U.C.C.’s sustainable development goals and has an incredible record of employment with many graduates going on to work in related sectors.”
“Two graduates of the year last year were from the International Development course. We do fantastic work. Students go on placement in their third year and work with victims of child trafficking or they go to places like India to work in the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.”
The course has always had strong numbers, but this year there has been a high transfer rate with the number of students dropping from twenty six to fourteen. Freddie couldn’t give a reason why that drop took place, but would like for the college to be more open about what’s really going on.
“They haven’t engaged with us to find out our concerns, so all we have is speculation. I mean, why would you not look at the programme, review it and engage with students.”
“CUBS are saying it’s being put on temporary cessation, which is a mandatory step towards making it permanent, but U.C.C. are saying it’s being reviewed. There has been minimal consultation with all relevant stakeholders, which is really frustrating, because the course doesn’t need to be discontinued, it just needs more promotion.”
Freddie’s passion is obvious and finds the course to be incredibly beneficial.
“It teaches hands-on skills about data and research, project management and how to navigate bureaucracy, which is what we’re having to do with this campaign!”
An online petition has been started by the students of International Development to save their course and a lot of the people who have signed it have been saying they want to enroll in the future, but they hadn’t even heard of the course before now.
“It was advertised better before 2020 and would be a great shame to take away the great impact graduates are having here in Ireland and abroad, so it’s up to the college now to engage with us.”
And does Freddie think they will?
“We’re hopeful.”
A spokesperson from U.C.C told T+D that, “The CAO applications process for BSc International Development is open and entry for the 2024/25 academic year will progress as normal. UCC initiates reviews of its educational courses on a regular basis to ensure that that its degree offerings are aligned with local and national industry requirements, the BSc International Development is in such a process. Any findings of the review will have no impact on those currently studying for this degree.”
Earlier this year UCC revealed that it recorded a €11.2 million deficit in 2023 and is being forced to review capital projects to offset that debt.
Separately, CUBs which offers the degree in International Development, is slated to move its campus to a city centre site which the college bought from Dairygold for €17.25m in 2019 (see full story below). Construction work has yet to begin on that project.
The students’ petition to save the degree has garnered more than 2,200 signatures as of going to print. It can be found here.
Excellent course, and highly undervalued in CUBS. Graduates have gone on to work in UN Agencies, Local Development, NGOs, and leading Think Tanks and Research Institutes.
If this course is cancelled, students will need to go to Europe or UK to study development as an undergrad. Plenty of the course and SDGs apply to Ireland, and the world isn't getting any smaller