Learning & Teaching

Teaching and Learning in Irish Universities

Ireland’s national economic success depends on an internationally leading and responsive higher education system to address the changing skills requirements of Ireland’s economy. Irish universities educate more than 155,500 students, including over 8,600 PhD candidates. Each year over 26,600 new undergraduates are admitted to Irish universities, while over 50,000 persons graduate with a university degree, ready to contribute to Ireland’s economic, social and cultural development.

In support of our member universities, and as a key component of the IUA Strategy 2026-2030, IUA works to deepen engagement with employers, enterprise bodies, government and wider stakeholders to better ensure that the universities’ evolution responds to and takes into account the changing skills needs of the public and private sector.

This includes the responsible integration of AI across teaching, research and university operations — protecting the human relationships at the heart of education — while strengthening Ireland’s capacity in frontier AI research and innovation, and contributing to national and European policy on AI in research.

A key element of IUA’s support for universities is to help ensure the necessary conditions which will allow the sustainable mainstreaming of flexible, part-time lifelong learning, including the necessary policy, structural, funding and internal reforms required to enable a step-change in provision and participation. The potential of these changes can be seen through recent projects such as MicroCredentials and the Recognition of Prior Learning, which have provided a clear blueprint to how access to the benefits of university education can be widened across all ages and stages of life.

As part of this, we work to develop and disseminate compelling evidence to demonstrate the need for ongoing changes to the policy and funding environment, including longer-term policy, funding frameworks and more joined-up approaches to support the reform and transformation required to maximise impact. This will enable our member universities to continue to provide the highest standards of education to students at graduate and post‑graduate level, improve staff-student ratios and continue to develop a full range of student services.

Staff Development for Enhanced Learning and Teaching

Universities quickly adapted to the COVID-19 crisis, ensuring continued education through remote teaching and assessment. Visit Staff Development for Enhanced Learning and Teaching to learn more about ongoing efforts to blend digital learning with traditional methods, support staff development, and maintain high standards in teaching and research.

Support Student Learning

Universities drive personal and societal growth by nurturing talent, fostering critical thinking, and enhancing student learning experiences. Support Student Learning offers insights which reveal the significant impact of university education on employment and skill development.

Irish universities are responding to the rapidly growing need for more flexible lifelong learning programmes, including the enhanced use of digital opportunities, and supported by adapted public funding mechanisms. The IUA has adopted a Position Paper “A Student is a Student is a Student” – which advocates for a much more flexible approach to student supports and state funding, in order to enable a significant increase in participation in Irish higher education by part-time and flexible learners.

The IUA supports the objectives of the Government’s pilot Part Time Fee Scheme for Specified Undergraduate Courses 2024 (link https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/c3880-student-part-time-fee-scheme-for-specified-undergraduate-courses-2024-information-q-a/) and calls for this pilot scheme to be broadened in subsequent years.

Irish universities also provide a comprehensive offering of quality-assured micro‑credentials programmes, offered in flexible part-time formats, across the full range of upskilling and reskilling priority areas. To find out more, please visit our MicroCreds.ie platform, the first of its kind in Europe.

The quality of learning and teaching in Irish universities benefits from close interaction with high quality, relevant research and scholarship. This is crucial, from undergraduate studies to doctoral programmes, in keeping teaching up-to-date and ensuring that learning is inspired by a spirit of curiosity and discovery. Much of the research which takes place in Irish universities is undertaken in close cooperation with research partners in other countries, and many researchers in Irish universities have studied or worked abroad. This ensures that they experience the broader benefits of internationalisation in gaining research experience in another country and using that to enrich their own work at home. Please see the Research & Innovation section of this website for information about research underway in Irish universities.

Collaboration in the Higher Education Sector on Quality

The universities, in collaboration with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), have invested heavily in learning and teaching over the past two decades. Standards and a reputation of excellence have been built up and many important innovations have taken place in the ongoing transformation of learning and teaching across the Irish university sector.

The universities also work closely with and contribute to the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, which was established as a national resource with a central focus on enhancing the quality of the learning experience for all students in higher education. The National Forum plays a vital role in supporting excellence in learning and teaching in Irish higher education, in line with key objectives outlined in the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030.

Learning and teaching in Irish universities is enhanced by regular and comprehensive external and internal quality assurance procedures and quality enhancement initiatives. Please see the Quality Assurance section of this website for information. All courses offered in Irish universities lead to qualifications which are included on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) and the Irish Register of Qualifications. These qualifications are underpinned by core principles of quality, recognition, access, transfer and progression, and

Student Volunteer was an initiative set-up and supported by the Irish Universities Association. It was created as a one-stop-shop portal connecting higher education students with civil society organisation volunteering opportunities.

From 01/07/2023, responsibility for operation of the website was transferred from the Irish Universities Association (“IUA”) to the University of Limerick. For students: Your own / local institution will continue to manage your personal data for the purposes of managing volunteering opportunities and arrangements.

Visit the new Student Volunteer website at www.studentvolunteer.ie or click the button below:

Some of the innovations in learning and teaching are linked to European and international developments, where Irish universities play an active role in a variety of programmes and networks. The European University Association ‘Trends’ project often highlights Ireland as an example of good practice, and demonstrates that collaboration and exchange among European universities are important catalysts in enhancing learning and teaching. For information about the Bologna Process, intergovernmental cooperation of 48 countries across the European Higher Education Area with current rounds featuring a strong emphasis on learning and teaching, please click here.

All Irish universities have centres for learning and teaching, which work to foster and maintain a culture of excellence in learning and teaching among staff and students, providing information, resources and training. They promote innovative methods that encourage active learner engagement and critical thinking through which students can develop their knowledge, skills and competences to the highest level, and offer professional development opportunities for staff who teach. The centres support the development and enhancement of the skilled talent pool in our universities, in order to deliver a quality student experience, and maintain close links with partner higher education institutions in Ireland and internationally. Please click on the university links below to find out more: