The American College, Dublin

American College Dublin
Motto Ad astra per angusta
Type Private(Non-Profit)
Established 1993
President Dr Donald E. Ross
Dean Dr Rory McEntegart
Location Dublin, Ireland
Nickname American College
Affiliations HETAC, MSCHE
Website http://www.amcd.ie
Facing Merrion Square

American College, Dublin, a constituent college of Irish American University, is a private not-for-profit liberal arts institution, accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). Established in 1993 in Dublin Ireland, the institution is located in the center of Dublin on Merrion Square in a number of Georgian era houses, one of which is the childhood home of Oscar Wilde. In addition to its American accreditation with MSCHE, American College Dublin offers programs placed at level-eight and level-nine on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications which are accredited by the Irish body Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) and for which graduating students receive QQI awards.

American College Dublin was founded as an independent educational trust in May 1993 by Lynn University, a liberal arts institution located in Boca Raton, Florida. The college admitted its first liberal arts and business degree students in September 1993 and graduated its first class in 1996. The development of the College’s Dublin campus continued through the 1990s; in 2002 the institution expanded its operations with the establishment of a sister campus in Delaware, which became known as American College Delaware.

Controversy

In 2010, the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) withdrew accreditation from the college's psychology course because of concerns about quality. Sixty-two students who had paid fees to the college found themselves unable to finish their degree there, and 50 of them finished their course at the nearby Dublin Business School. Students at the college, speaking to The Irish Times newspaper, said that the college was poorly resourced and had not had a full-time librarian for over a year. The college was also subject of a critical report by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC), which highlighted a series of institutional failures at the American College and made no less than 37 recommendations for change. The college was reprimanded for calling itself the “Irish American University” when it had no status as a university. HETAC also said the college lacked a clear vision for the future. The college also enrolled at least seven fee-paying students on its psychology course who, because they had not secured sufficient grades in their Leaving Cert exams, would never be given accreditation from the PSI and would never be able to practice as psychologists or be eligible for a postgraduate degree; the college admitted that these students were never told this. Irish Times columnist and guidance counsellor Brian Mooney wrote that "students at the American College have been treated disgracefully" and that he "will never recommend the American College to any student I guide, and would encourage my colleagues not to do so either." [1]

Degrees and courses

The college offers a number of Business degrees and Master courses validated by HETAC.[2]

There are also a number of courses validated through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.[3]

American College Dublin offers the following programs:

Liberal Arts

Business

The college also offers a Study Abroad program to students from the United States. Students can study at ACD during the fall and spring semesters (15 weeks) as well as in an eight-week summer semester. American College Dublin has three undergraduate programs for which graduating students receive QQI awards:

American College Dublin has one graduate program for which graduating students receive a QQI award:

References

"Damaged by a psychological blow", Peter McGuire, The Irish Times, September 21, 2010

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.