National College of Ireland’s Spencer Dock site to open in autumn

National College of Ireland (NCI) is a unique higher education institution on a mission to change lives through education.

The not-for-profit college was founded in 1951 by the Jesuits; today, as an independent institution, it continues to deliver higher education and community outreach with a social conscience and a strong ethical grounding. Inclusivity and access are guiding principles in how the college operates, and it has always sought to provide higher education to those not primed to seek it out.

NCI has constantly adapted and innovated with the times. In the 1960s, the college focused on education for employers and members of trade unions, delivering Ireland’s first degree in industrial relations. In the 1990s, NCI developed degree programmes in computing and technology and now has one of the largest schools of computing in Ireland.

Today, NCI has 6,500 students across programmes in business, computing, education and psychology. The college takes a ‘whole person’ approach to education, and the strongly supportive environment is complemented by smaller class sizes.

In 2002, NCI relocated to Dublin’s International Financial Service Centre, close to Dublin’s Silicon Docks.

The college maintains a close relationship with employers, delivering skilled graduates from programmes designed in collaboration with those employers to meet the needs of today’s economy. Proof of the success of this strategy is seen in the placement of 97 per cent of NCI’s graduates in employment every year.

In 2008, NCI developed the Early Learning Initiative, which works with socio-economically disadvantaged communities to provide world-class parent-and-child learning support. This programme – which focuses on improving children’s and families’ ability to excel in, and to value, education – is based on the college’s research and development of targeted educational pedagogies. Having commenced in Dublin’s inner city, the Early learning Initiative is now a national programme addressing educational disadvantage.

NCI is now on the verge of taking another big step: this autumn, students and faculty will expand teaching and education into a new building in nearby Spencer Dock – a significant extension of NCI’s campus in the IFSC.

Professor Gina Quin, president of NCI, described the expansion as a huge opportunity for the college, describing the acquisition of the new building as “critical to allow NCI to grow in line with the six key priorities of our five-year strategic plan”.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to deliver for our students, who will benefit from enhanced facilities; our staff, providing better working environments for all our activities; our teaching, through better classrooms and study spaces; our research, through the expansion of our library footprint; and more access paths into education at an enhanced college campus,” she said.

“We cannot wait to make this new space our own, extending the warmth and welcome of the NCI into Spencer Dock, in a move that will have a positive impact on the whole of the North East Inner City community.

“It will allow NCI to focus on its unique positioning as a distinctive education provider in higher education.”

The new building is less than a five-minute walk from the current campus at Mayor Square, where the college has served for 20 years as an intersection between education, business and community, and will substantially add to the college’s footprint in the area.

With an expanded campus, NCI will grow its programme offering, increase the student population to 8,500, and further strengthen relationships with employers and the community. The College’s Early Learning Services will be a key part of this growth strategy.

Dr Deirdre Giblin, director of development and external engagement at NCI, said that expanding the college’s footprint in Dublin is an integral part of NCI’s plans and ambitions, as well as its commitment to providing quality higher education.

Giblin noted that NCI is unique in the context of the higher education landscape in Ireland.

“We have three different cohorts that we serve,” Giblin said. “One is the first generation of CAO students who potentially have not come from a family of university or college-educated parents. The second is those second-chance mature learners who need to address their education skills for today’s workplace, and the third is all the children and families impacted by the work of the Early Learning Initiative.”

According to Giblin, stakeholders such as employers and communities are saying, “We need more of what NCI is doing, and we at NCI are responding and saying, ‘Yes, we want to do more for our students, our staff and for the Irish economy. But we need more space to locate those activities.’”

And space comes at a cost and considerable effort; NCI spent eight years looking for the right building at the right price to begin its expansion plans, and this was finally realised by buying the new campus building at Spencer Dock.

Refurbishments are under way, and the new campus will be ready for students and faculty to move into for the new academic year in autumn 2023.

For NCI, the long-awaited expansion is hugely exciting.

“It’s very much part of this new strategy of NCI moving forward,” Giblin said, noting that the college fulfils “a unique space on the national higher education landscape and it is critical that we secure this investment through philanthropy and grants”.

Giblin said the college is actively looking to attract funding from a variety of sources – philanthropists, corporate donors, trusts and foundations, as well as government – and has launched a €20m philanthropic campaign.

Quin added: “We want to change many more lives through education and this expansion allows us to do this.”

For NCI, the future is looking bigger – and brighter.