A Message from the NCI President Gina Quin
I am delighted to introduce our annual report for 2015/16, a strong year for the college marked by significant growth in academic programmes and financial stability. All of this would not have been possible without the support of our Governing Body, our academic and administrative team and external supporters and donors. A positive financial result, with our underlying surplus at €1.3m based on income growth of 9% to €22.3m, follows a five year growth trajectory and continues to build towards a significant expansion of the NCI campus. Growth has been driven by new areas of academic study in Business and Computing, significant increases in international students and the continuation of our excellent work addressing educational disadvantage through our Early Learning Initiative. Our student body has continued to expand, full-time, part-time and postgraduate students, as we have worked hard to develop and enhance all our students’ educational journey and respond to the talent demands of the Irish economy through the passionate commitment to learning and to our students from our dedicated faculty and staff. I would like to thank my predecessor Dr Phillip Matthews for his work in delivering this performance. I would also like to thank our many external supporters who bring such a wealth of experience to the delivery of NCI’s mission, our Governing Body, industry partners, donors, government and regulatory bodies. In the coming year we see an exciting future for NCI, further growth in student numbers and a campus expansion, new programmes and enhanced delivery methods, research and partnership with industry and further internationalisation. This next chapter of growth will be underpinned by our commitment to our mission to change lives through education. On behalf of everyone at NCI I would like to thank the Governing body for their support. This year Denis O’Brien has retired as Chair of the Governing Body and I would like to thank Denis wholeheartedly for his unwavering support, leadership and expert contribution to NCI over more than 15 years. I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Prof Áine Hyland, Eddie Sullivan and Bill Attley for their many years of distinguished service on Governing Body. I am particularly delighted to welcome Fr. Leonard Moloney SJ to the role of Chair of the Governing Body. Finally I thank you for my welcome to NCI and I look forward to working with you all as we continue to develop in the service of learning, our students and wider society.
Foreword by the Chairman of the Governing Body Denis O’Brien
2015/16 has been a hugely positive year for National College of Ireland (NCI). We have grown our revenues, increased international student numbers, introduced innovative new education programmes and new areas of study and continued to serve our learners and communities with a passion that is the hallmark of NCI. NCI is attuned to the needs of Ireland’s changing economy with new programmes this year in fintech and cybersecurity. Our close alignment with industry has also been illustrated as we partner with Financial Services Ireland/IBEC in the development of new financial services apprenticeships. We will continue to deliver on NCI’s heritage of providing skills and graduates equipped for the changing world of work. Addressing educational disadvantage remains a key objective for NCI and we are proud to have worked again this year with communities and donors through the Early Learning Initiative (ELI). Assessments indicate ELI programmes are making real improvements to children’s educational aspirations, language, and literacy and numeracy skills. I thank the Chairman of the ELI Board Frank Ryan, the ELI Board Members and wider team for their work. This year has also brought the appointment of our new NCI President, Gina Quin. On behalf of the Governing Body I would like to acknowledge the work of our outgoing President , Dr Phillip Matthews. We are confident the college can continue to grow under our new President Gina Quin as she leads us into our next chapter of development. I would like to pay tribute to the staff at NCI and thank them for their continued hard work and dedication to students. A big thank you also to my Governing Body colleagues who have given extremely generously of their time again this year for the college. I would like to particularly note the contributions of Bill Attley, Eddie Sullivan and Professor Áine Hyland, as they step down from Governing Body in the coming year. On a personal note this report marks the end of my tenure as Chairman of the Governing Body at NCI. I have over the past fifteen years been delighted to witness huge growth and development in NCI. I know under the stewardship of our new Chairman Fr. Leonard Moloney SJ that NCI will continue to progress and fulfil its mission of changing people’s lives through education. Thank You Denis O’Brien
NCI at a glance
Annual Report 2015 - 2016
Academic Highlights
Learning and Teaching
New programmes launched in learning and teaching with a new BA in Early Childhood Education enrolling and a new BA in Adult and Workforce Education and MA in Personal Leadership and Pastoral Care successfully validated by QQI. In March 2015, NCI hosted the Colloquium of the Association of Providers of Qualifications for FET Educators - the theme was professionalism in further education with over a hundred national and international practitioners attending. To improve services for students the Learning & Teaching Support Team moved to a new, highly visible location in the atrium.
School of Computing
Dr Cristina Muntean and Dr Pramod Pathak secured a research grant under European Commission Horizon 2020 with a project budget for NEWTON of € 5.6 million. NEWTON is a large scale European-funded international project which involves 14 partners from 7 countries.  The School of Computing research group is currently involved in European commission funded research projects to the tune of € 7.4 million.
The 14th Information Technology & Telecommunications (IT&T 2015) Conference was held in NCI in October 2015 with the theme "ICT for a more Digital Experience". PhD student, Mr James Eustace received the best paper award in the conference.
 34 academic publications were produced in the School of Computing in the year!
An International symposium on High Performance Computing was organised by the Cloud Competency Centre at NCI in April 2016.
The school of computing were delighted to launch new MSc’s in Fintech and Cybersecurity. Internet of Things specialisations were also created for our Higher Diploma in Computing and BSc (Hons) in Computing.
An NCI Spin out Startup company led by Deborah Carberry and Conor Curran won the February 2016 inventor of the month competition organised by DRIC (Dublin Regional Innovation Consortium). They have designed and developed an interactive homework tool. It assists students by allowing them to reflect on their academic strengths and weaknesses. This Invention Disclosure has also resulted in a spin out company from NCI called “Coursiqa”.
School of Business
The BA Hons Psychology was launched as a part-time offering. Our Business School introduced a placement year for undergraduate business studies. Over 220 individual pieces of research were produced by faculty within the School of Business. Dr Corina Sheerin and Dr Caitriona Hughes won the prestigious Alan Moon Memorial Prize for best paper at the International Conference for Human Resource Development
Our new part-time BA in Business Management in an accelerated 3 stage, 2 year format was launched. The first students from our partnership with Hebei University in China are currently studying for the BA Hons HRM at NCI.
Early Learning Initiative
International
Highlights of the year
Launch of the new BA Honours in Adult and Workforce Education and BA Honours in Early Childhood Education
2nd July 2015
24th Aug 2015 IBM announce a partnership with NCI to train new developers. NCI becomes one of more than 200 institutions globally to develop new curricula using IBM’s Bluemix development platform.
1st Oct 2015 NCI HR graduate Orla Byrne selected as the Programme Winner in the Business category of the 2015 Undergraduate Awards.
29th-30th Oct 2015 Industry & Academia Converge at NCI for 14th annual Information Technology & Telecommunications (IT&T) Conference, ‘ICT for a more Digital Experience’, chaired by Dr Cristina Muntean and Dr Pramod Pathak of NCI’s School of Computing.
11th Nov 2015
17th Nov 2015
24th Nov 2015 NCI Graduation in the Dublin Convention Centre.
ELI launches Parent Child Home Programme in Limerick at a breakfast event in the Garryowen Rugby Club. The initiative is funded by Northern Trust. Future of HR Industry Event hosted by NCI and CIPD on campus.
Dec 2015
16th Dec 2015
11th Feb 2016 ELI announce expansion in Dublin Docklands thanks to funding from basis.point, the Irish Fund Industry’s charitable initiative.
NCI Computing Lecturer Sam Cogan leads the third Webmas event, where teams of students from NCI spend 24 hours designing, developing and deploying various websites for charity. NCI Student Michael O’Sullivan raises €1,510 for Childline as part of the 100 minds fundraising campaign.
28th April 2016
28th April 2016
16th May 2016
25th May 2016 National College of Ireland hosts discussion on ‘Graduate Employability and the future of work’ with Association of Higher education Careers Services (AHECS), chaired by Matt Cooper Excellence in Graduate Employability Award goes to NCI Careers Team Once Again! The Governing Body of National College of Ireland announced the appointment of Ms Gina Quin to the position of President to succeed outgoing President Dr Phillip Matthews. The Go Further event series at NCI kicks off for the second year running, in partnership with Newstalk. Aimed at professionals seeking to progress in their education and career, the events explore trends and opportunities in the areas of technology, data, marketing and HR.
26th May 2016
7th June 2016 The School of Computing Project Showcase featured more than 120 final year degree students displaying their work to industry professionals. Projects ranged from a real-time virtual fitness trainer to cloud based payroll and banking applications, and a mobile app that will make life easier for craft beer drinkers to order in their favourite pubs.
 June 2016
The Early Learning Initiative host their first major conference at NCI, on Enriching the Home Learning Environment.
23rd June 2016 Michael Bane and Dr Simon Caton win NCI's President's award for assessment innovation. Irish psychologists secure €3.3 million funding for research into trauma-exposed populations in Europe. Dr Philip Hyland, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at NCI is co-leading this four-year study funded under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 scheme, collaborating with a number of European academic and non-academic partner institutions.
Student Stories
At National College of Ireland we have a very vibrant and diverse student body. Our learners come from all over the globe and from a huge variety of backgrounds and cultures. Whether you are a business executive coming to do an MBA, a school leaver coming on to an undergraduate computing degree or someone coming back to education after many years away at NCI we see ourselves as working in partnership with you to help realise your full potential. We are guided by an overall wellness concept which values a student’s social, physical, psychological and spiritual wellbeing. Throughout the year our dedicated staff in Student Services and Learning and Teaching provided a range of supports and initiatives for all our learners. These included dedicated academic support services, maths support, medical services, financial support, disability support services, careers and employability and peer support programmes. Above and beyond the services we provided our students told us that they valued the supportive environment that they found at NCI from all its faculty and staff and their fellow students. Everyone associated with NCI can be truly proud of the difference this can make to people's lives.
Dr Philip Hyland, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at NCI, is co-leading a four-year study funded under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 scheme, collaborating with a number of European partner institutions for research into trauma-exposed populations in Europe.
Dr Cristina Muntean and Dr Pramod Pathak secured a research grant under European Commission Horizon 2020
Financial
Financial statements will be available following our AGM.
National College of Ireland, Mayor Street, IFSC, Dublin 1 Web: www.ncirl.ie | Tel: 01 4498500 | email: info@ncirl.ie