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The College View

The presence of Irish Aid fellows in Irish higher education institutions brings a welcome diversity to the academic departments that host them and adds a valuable dimension to the courses they participate in. This two-way benefit has been repeatedly emphasised by the academics whose courses they have attended:

"Our experience of having students funded by Irish Aid is very positive, both for the international students and for the rest of the student group. Having students from Africa on a postgraduate social policy course inevitably led to rich and diverse discussions about the nature of welfare, well-being, and social policy processes and practices. For a number of the students this was the first opportunity they had to discuss Irish and global social policy with students from outside Africa. Without funding from Irish Aid this opportunity for both Irish-based and international students would not have existed."

- Ms Eluska Fernandez, Course Director, M.Soc.Sc. in Social Policy, University College Cork

"The Irish Aid Fellowship Training Programme is invaluable to courses focused on international development addressing issues of poverty, health, gender inequality, etc. The Fellows bring to the classroom unique on-the-ground experience and important insights to the theoretical discussion of the dynamics of poverty and inequality."

- Dr Nata Duvvury, Course Director, MA in Gender, Globalisation and Rights, NUI Galway

"One of the strengths of our course is the diversity of its students. Without the support of Irish Aid, fewer students from resource-poor settings would be able to participate. This would be to the detriment of the individual students, as well as to the learning experience of the group and to the course overall."

- Dr Fiona Larkan, Course Co-ordinator, MSc in Global Health, Trinity College Dublin

"I consider it a privelege to have an Irish Aid Fellow on the programme. It is a high opportunity for them to learn but at the same time, they contribute hughly to the learning of their class mates and lecturers."

- Dr Anna Clarke, Course Director, Masters in Public Health, University College Dublin

"The support of Irish Aid Fellowships greatly improves the quality of our course as the fellows bring valuable experience to our workshops, group discussions and research projects as many aspects of the course deal with environmental engineering issues in developing countries."

- Dr Aonghus Mc Nabola, Course Director, MSc in Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin

"Irish Aid Fellows have always made a significant contribution to the programme and to expanding the horizons of the Irish and other EU students in their year groups. This year in particular, it was the overseas students (and especially the Irish Aid Fellows) who have been most articulate during classes and have contributed most to discussion - a credit to the system."

- Dr John Fry, Course Director, MSc(Agr) in Environmental Resource Management, University College Dublin

"The Irish Aid Fellowship Training Programme offers development practitioners in the countries of the South an invaluable opportunity to gain professional qualifications in development studies in a unique, intercultural and participatory learning environment at the Kimmage Development Studies Centre. The fellowship programme ensures that participants from various countries and continents can come together to share experiences and to learn from each other at Kimmage in order to enhance their development practice and the development of the communities they work with."

- Dr Eilish Dillon, Course Director, MA in Development Studies, Kimmage Development Studies Centre

"Irish Aid Fellows make an extremely valuable contribution to the M.Phil. programme in International Peace Studies. They often come from countries that have been on the frontline of war and armed conflict. Their direct involvement in peacebuilding and conflict resolution efforts in their own countries adds immeasurably to content and learning experience of the programme."

- Dr Iain Atack, Course Director, MPhil in International Peace Studies, Trinity College Dublin

"The Irish Aid Fellowship has allowed young and very bright scholars to be able to achieve more and bring their knowledge back home. The Irish Centre for Human Rights has hosted a number of scholars who have benefitted from fellowships Without exception their contribution both to the diversity and the engagement of the programme has been tremendous. Many of these students come from areas where rights deprivation is a living (not academic) experience and what they can share (and what they can take away with them) from our course and with our study body has been tremdendous. There is no doubt that these fellows would have been financially unable to study with us had this scholarship not been available and we are all the richer for their presence in the programme."

- Dr Kathleen Cavanaugh, Course Director, LLM in International Criminal Law, NUI Galway