April Address

01 April, 2016

Hi Guys,
We here in the Students’ Union can’t quite believe so much of the semester has gone by already! Time flies when you’re having fun and working hard. We hope you all had an enjoyable Easter Break, and are re-energised after it and rearing to go for the rest of the semester, the end is nigh. We wish all students well for the rest of the semester.

ISSE…Thank You

The Irish Survey of Student Engagement (ISSE) had an overall response rate in CIT of 22%, up significantly from last year. This survey was aimed at first year undergraduate, final year undergraduate and taught postgraduate students. The main purpose of the survey is to provide benefits to CIT and its students by helping to improve feedback and appropriate action.
The Students’ Union feel that the survey results have a lot to offer in terms of ensuring the student voice within CIT is adequately reflected, and has much scope for adequately acknowledging and acting on the student voice.
We thank all students who took the time to complete the survey. We would like to thank and acknowledge the huge support of Class Reps in terms of encouraging their classmates to complete the survey.
We look forward to working with relevant stakeholders in CIT in disseminating the results, and working towards ensuring all observations and reflections from the survey are explored, any issues resolved and any opportunities looked into.

International Day @ CIT

We applaud the International Office and International Student Society for their excellent organisation of International Day, which took place in CIT on Wednesday 2nd March. It was fantastic to see such a large amount of students from diverse and interesting backgrounds at the International Breakfast morning, as well as at the inaugural International Ball in The Clarion Hotel that night, the first of many we’re sure.

SU Executive Elections

As any SU Officer knows, election season isn’t  long coming around. The week for any individual contesting a position is both one of the most exciting and daunting weeks they will ever experience.
We would like to extend a special thank you to the SU General Election Returning Officer Dr Judith Butler and to the Deputy Returning Officer Vicky O’Sullivan for their flawless organisation and execution of the Election process.
We commend everyone who put themselves forward for a position on the executive and the energy and passion exerted by each candidate into their respective races.

The Students’ Union Executive 2016/17, will consist of the following:
President – Shane Falvey
VP Education – Denise Coughlan
VP Welfare – Ruth O’Leary
Communications’ Officer – Dave Brady
Projects Officer – Dan Hanlon
Entertainments Officer – Rebekah Keating

The Executive Elect will take up their respective positons on June 1st.
They are looking forward to representing the students of CIT for the forthcoming
academic year.

SparQ @ CIT

(Student Partnership in Quality at Cork Institute of Technology)

Aim: Strengthen student engagement in quality enhancement, through a partnership approach, to improve the student learning experience
CIT Students’ Union (CITSU), CIT’s Student Engagement and Retention Initiative and CIT Faculties are continuously working closely together to further develop student representation and to use the student voice to ensure the quality of experience of all CIT students is the best it can be. This project is being undertaken with the expert input of SPARQS (Student Partnership in Quality, Scotland) Office, Edinburgh, Scotland.
On Monday 4th April we will welcome once again Mr Simon Varwell of SparQs, Edinburgh Office, to CIT where he will work for the day with CIT SU Class Reps and Faculty of Engineering and Science Management and academic staff to further develop partnership approaches that focus on enhancement, value the student contribution and continue to build CIT’s culture of engagement. Similar sessions will happen in CCAD & CSM on Wednesday 6th April.
We look immensely forward to future work in this space, one which we are currently
national leaders in.

Safety Week

CIT SU Safety Week will take place from 5th-7th April. Throughout this campaign there will be a mix of information stands each day. We will hold a balloon release in memory of the 166 lives lost on Irish roads in 2015 on Tuesday. On Wednesday there will be a FREE Water safety class in Leisure World and our main event a car crash re-enactment at 12.30pm in the carpark outside the library. During this campaign we will be running a treasure hunt with a €100 cash prize. I would encourage everyone to get involved. Keep reading to see the full timetable of events for the week. Your safety is of the upmost importance to us here in CIT SU.
Be safe.

All the very best,

Shane, John, Ruth,
Dave, Rebekah, Kate,
YOUR SU Executive