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Courses
Courses
Choosing a course is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make! View our courses and see what our students and lecturers have to say about the courses you are interested in at the links below.
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University Life
University Life
Each year more than 4,000 choose NUI Galway as their University of choice. Find out what life at NUI Galway is all about here.
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About NUI Galway
About NUI Galway
Since 1845, NUI Galway has been sharing the highest quality teaching and research with Ireland and the world. Find out what makes our University so special – from our distinguished history to the latest news and campus developments.
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Colleges & Schools
Colleges & Schools
NUI Galway has earned international recognition as a research-led university with a commitment to top quality teaching across a range of key areas of expertise.
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Research & Innovation
Research & Innovation
NUI Galway’s vibrant research community take on some of the most pressing challenges of our times.
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Business & Industry
Guiding Breakthrough Research at NUI Galway
We explore and facilitate commercial opportunities for the research community at NUI Galway, as well as facilitating industry partnership.
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Alumni, Friends & Supporters
Alumni, Friends & Supporters
There are over 90,000 NUI Galway graduates Worldwide, connect with us and tap into the online community.
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Community Engagement
Community Engagement
At NUI Galway, we believe that the best learning takes place when you apply what you learn in a real world context. That's why many of our courses include work placements or community projects.
Athena SWAN
What is Athena SWAN?
The Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 by the Equality Challenge Unit in the UK to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education and research.
In May 2015 the charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), and in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. The charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.
In a major national initiative supported by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), access to the Athena SWAN framework was extended to Irish universities in 2015. Figures published by the HEA highlight gender inequality as an issue for the sector. Across Irish universities in 2018, only 23% of Professors are women, and only 30% of the highest level of professional staff are women. No Irish university has yet had a female President. Engagement with the Athena SWAN framework is a proven way of bringing gender equality into strategic and operational planning, and working toward improving the outcome for all staff.
Athena SWAN Ireland
The Athena Swan Ireland charter has recently undergone a re-development in line with the findings of a national consultation and offers a framework for progressing equality in higher education and research that is unique to Ireland. The objective of the Athena Swan Ireland 2021 charter framework is to support higher education institutions, academic departments, and professional units in impactful and sustainable gender equality work and to build capacity for evidence-based equality work across the equality grounds enshrined in Irish legislation.
The Athena SWAN Ireland charter is underpinned by eight key principles. The principles act as the foundation for the Ireland charter, with all other elements of the framework – including criteria, application and assessment – aligned to these commitments and the values enshrined within them.
Athena SWAN at NUI Galway
NUI Galway is an Athena SWAN Charter member since 2015 and achieved a Bronze Institution award in 2018 under the pre-2015 Charter. The Institutional Self-Assessment Team (SAT) has overseen the implementation of the Athena SWAN 2017/18 action plan including the establishment of SAT and submissions with a particular emphasis on STEMM schools to date.
The Office of the Vice-President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (OVPEDI) leads on engagement with the Athena SWAN Charter and embedding Athena SWAN principles in the University. Vice-Deans for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all four Colleges provide leadership and support for Athena SWAN activity at school level.
NUI Galway’s commitment to Athena SWAN is explicit in the University Strategy 2020-2025: 'We will maintain our Athena SWAN Bronze Award and aim to achieve institutional Silver-level accreditation to further advance diversity and equality in the University'. A goal of the EDI Strategy 2020-2025 is to 'Achieve an institutional Athena SWAN Silver Award'.
The University secured a renewed Bronze Athena SWAN Award in recognition of the University’s continued progression on gender equality.
To date, nine Schools have attained Bronze departmental awards; School of Medicine (renewal), School of Chemistry, School of Psychology, School of Natural Sciences, and School of Mathematics, Statistics & Applied Maths, School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Physics, School of Buisiness and Economics, and School of Health Sciences.
Athena SWAN activity is embedded in the University’s EDI and Governance Structure. Progress reports on the action plan are provided quarterly to the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Campus Committee (EDICC) and bi-annually to UMT and Governing Authority via the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Campus Committee (EDICC).
Actions from the Athena SWAN 2017/18 action plan are included in a comprehensive Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP) which also include actions from the 2016 NUI Galway Report of the Gender Equality Task Force, the 2016 HEA Review of Gender Equality in Irish HEIs, and the 2018 Ministerial Gender Equality Action Plan: Accelerating Gender Equality in Irish HEIs. Progress reports on the GEAP are updated bi-monthly on the OVPEDI website.
Click here to learn more about the Institutional Self-Assessment Team who led the Athena SWAN application and the Institutional Athena SWAN Steering Group that are driving implementation of the Action Plan.