Gaelchultúr, the Irish language education services company, has achieved the status of third-level institution.
 
Gaelchultúr has chosen the name Coláiste na hÉireann for the new institution, which is about to launch its first course, a postgraduate diploma in translation (Dioplóma Iarchéime san Aistriúchán). This programme, a level 9 NFQ course, will commence in late September this year and will run for three semesters.
 
Éamonn Ó Dónaill, the company’s Director of Education said, “We at Gaelchultúr are very pleased to have achieved this third-level status and we’re also extremely proud to be the first Irish language college at this level.
 
“Gaelchultúr hopes that this new project of ours catches the imagination of Irish speakers, not only at home but worldwide, and that it will make a very positive contribution to the education sector in Ireland.”
 
The postgraduate diploma in translation programme is aimed at those who already have a good standard of Irish, but who wish to learn translation skills or to enhance the skills they already have. It is also ideal for those who work through Irish on a daily basis – teachers and journalists, for example – who wish to improve their standard of writing in the language. The course will also benefit those who are interested in working as a translator, administrator or lawyer-linguist in one of the European institutions.
 
A blended learning approach will be used in the programme, featuring a combination of online study, live online classes, and lectures and tutorials in the classroom. The classroom-based sessions will be held on one Saturday a month in Coláiste na hÉireann/Gaelchultúr’s headquarters in Dublin city centre. Since a great deal of the course material will be available on Gaelchultúr’s e-learning website, ranganna.com, the company expects a high level of interest in the programme from all corners of the country.
 
Coláiste na hÉireann has appointed three academics to its governing board each of whom has extensive experience of the third-level sector: Dr Finbarr Bradley, founder of Fiontar, the renowned Irish language interdisciplinary school in DCU; Dr Bríona Nic Dhiarmada, Professor of Film, Television and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame; and Dr Liam Dolan, Sherardian Professor of Botany and Head of Department, Magdalen College, Oxford.
 
The decision to award third-level status to Gaelchultúr was taken by QQI, the organisation created in 2012 by an amalgamation of four bodies, including FETAC and HETAC, that had both awarding and quality assurance responsibilities.
 
For more information visit www.gaelchultur.com.