students

FRESHERS DAY-TIME ENTERTAINMENT

Student gets Merit Award from CPA

IT Sligo student Darragh Devaney has been awarded the prestigious CPA Merit Award by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland. A native of Sligo, Darragh received the award for the best performing student in the accounting subjects on the new three year BA (Hons) in Accounting.

John Joe Gillen, Programme Chair for the BA in Accounting said, “IT Sligo are delighted that CPA have agreed to present an award. This degree is an excellent base for students who wish to pursue a professional qualification, with generous exemptions available from professional accountancy bodies.”

CPA Ireland is one of the main Irish accountancy bodies, with more than 5,000 members and students in Ireland. The CPA title is the most commonly used designation internationally for professional accountants and the Institute’s qualification enjoys worldwide recognition. Its current membership operates in public practice, industry, financial services and the public sector and CPAs work in over 32 countries around the world.





Photo- Pictured from left: Keith McManus, Head of Dept of Information Systems, Darragh Devaney, student, Ciara Murphy, CPA, and John Joe Gillen, lecturer and Programme Chair for the BA (Hons) in Accounting.

__________________________________________


Sligo Student To Stage Protest March Thurs 24th Nov

Thousands of Sligo students and family members are expected to take to the streets of Sligo from lunchtime tomorrow, Thurs 24 Nov, to protest against the government proposals to hike fees and reduce the grant the forthcoming Budget.

Over 20,000 students marched through the streets of Dublin last Wednesday in a national protest and the event in Sligo is to be repeated on a somewhat smaller, but no less entheusiastic, scale.

IT Sligo Students’ Union President James Dillion stated that “Students from the region are determined to fight on at local level” calling on all third level students to join with the hundreds already signed up to March from IT Sligo to the town on Thursday the 24th of November.

James said that “he will not tolerate education cuts that would limit IT Sligo Students to either emigration or to face the prospect of joining the dole queue”. The local march will start from the IT Sligo at 12.30pm with the students chanting 'No Ifs, No Buts, No Education Cuts'.

Education Minister Ruairí Quinn and the Labour party are expected to come under intense criticism during the march along with coalition partner, Fine Gael. The minister had in a very public pre-election stunt signed a pledge promising not to raise the fees or reduce the grant.

Traffic disruption is expeced for several hours and the march will culminate in a rally at John F Kennedy Parade.

_______________________________________

Enterprise Ireland launches €60k contest for students

Enterprise Ireland has launched a €60,000 entrepreneurial contest for students as part of the 30th ‘Think outside the Box Awards’ competition.

It is an opportunity for students to build a real-world business venture and at the same time be in with a chance to win cash prizes from the overall €30,000 prize fund, and €30,000 consultancy fund.

The competition was launched in colleges and institutions across the country including IT Sligo, DKIT, DCU, Waterford IT, CIT, UL, NUI Galway and Athlone IT.

_______________________________________________

Respect, Responsibility, Rational paramount for "Threesome" Campaigns

IT Sligo Students’ Union (ITSSU) have begun their "threesome" campaign strategy, with the introduction of the "SSSHH", "Don’t Walk Home Alone", and "ITS Sensible Drinking"

Campaigns

The IT Sligo (ITS) Sensible Drinking Campaign is a brand new initiative, and comes alongside the re-introduction of the SSSHH (Silent Sligo Students Happy Homes) Campaign, and Don’t Walk Home Alone Campaign which have proven extremely successful in the last number of years.

The trio of initiative focus on the central themes of respect, responsibility, and rational as students embark on a new term at IT Sligo.

President of IT Sligo Students’ Union James Dillon affirms, "While we in the Students’ Union encourage students to socialise, and believe that it is an integral part of college life, we also believe that respect, responsibility, and rational must be practised, at all times.

"The welfare of the students and the local and wider community is fundamental to ITSSU. "Our welfare campaigns have proven extremely successful over the last few years, the key to this success is the continued support given by the IT Sligo students, coupled with the hard work of all in the local community. We hope that our "threesome" campaigns for 2011/2012 can build on this and prove even more triumphant."

___________________________________________

Quinn establishes Student Grants Appeals Board

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn TD, today established the inaugural Student Grants Appeals Board. The Appeals Board was established under the Student Support Act 2011 and will be independent in the performance of its functions.

Its establishment will allow students that have applied for a grant under the 2011/12 student grant scheme and subsequent schemes to have any appeals determined by the Board. Minister Quinn also announced appointments to the Board, which will comprise a Chairperson and six ordinary members all appointed in their individual capacity based on their knowledge and expertise.

The Minister said that he was delighted that Ms. Maureen Waldron, former Secretary General of the Department of Social Protection, agreed to accept the position of Chairperson to the Board.

Ms. Waldron will be joined by Mr. Padraig McNamara (vice-Chair) former Chief Executive Officer of the State Examinations Commission; Dr. Marie Clarke, Head of Education at UCD; Ms. Rebecca Murphy, former Student Union Welfare Officer, University College Cork; Ms. Eithne Frost, Consultant in the Voluntary Sector; Ms. Brenna Clarke, retired Professor of English at St. Patrick’s College of Education; and Prof. Kevin Ryan, former Registrar of the University of Limerick. Minister Quinn expressed his appreciation for the agreement of the members to participate on the Board.

"This is an historic development in the area of student grants and the experience and expertise that the members will bring to the process will be an important contribution to improving the grant experience for students," he said.