Funding from Course Provider

Course providers are another source of funding that is available for students. It is a good idea to spend time familiarising yourself with the college website to find out just how many prizes, bursaries and scholarships they offer. The more savvy you are to what’s on offer, the more chance you will have of securing funding for your studies/research.

There is normally a link on the website alerting you to fees and scholarships, but you should also check the Graduate Studies section as well as your own subject department and faculty for more information about funding that may be awarded. Often, the department or faculty to which you will belong offers funding in the form of both research assistantships and scholarships.

There are usually more opportunities to acquire funding when undertaking a research course and also when researching a shortage subject. Dozens of research centres located among higher education providers all over the country - like the Centre for Pharmaceutical Research and Development in ITT Dublin and the Power Electronics Research Centre in NUI Galway – are often very successful in securing state and industry funding for major research projects. Research funding is usually awarded teams of researchers rather than individual students.

Examples of existing awards available to individual research students include UCD’s Ad Astra Awards, Trinity College’s Ussher Fellowships, and NUI Maynooth’s Hume Scholarships – 30 of which are available at a value of up to €8,000 per year plus fees for a period of up to four years. The National University of Ireland (consisting of UCD, UCC, NUI Galway and NUI Maynooth, and a number of other colleges) administers a number of postgraduate prizes and scholarships. Visit www.nui.ie for details.

Make an effort to become familiar to your department and seek advice from departmental staff as this could work in your favour when it comes to distributing the awards. Most higher education institutions have unique scholarships and awards, so take the time to investigate the possibilities.