University of Ulster

The University of Ulster (UU) is divided among five campuses across Northern Ireland and online: Belfast and Jordanstown in County Antrim, Magee and Coleraine in Co Derry, and Campus One, a virtual campus located on the Internet. Similar to the manner in which institutes of technology differ traditionally from universities in the Republic, UU courses tend to be more vocationally orientated than at Queen’s.

Postgraduate courses at UU are very popular with students in the Republic, this year they comprise 21 per cent (684 students) of the university’s fourth level population. 105 of these ROI postgraduates are pursuing the MSc in Biomedical Science, an area of research for which UU has an excellent international reputation. This course was awarded a top rating of five stars by the REA, and that was before the recent opening of a state-of-the-art Centre for Molecular Biosciences in Coleraine.

Another five star UU facility, the Research Institute for Irish and Celtic Studies, is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence. Possessing a vibrant research culture, some of the Institute’s many specialisms include bardic poetry, lexicography, minority languages and 18th/19th century Irish language.

Along with the Celtic Studies faculty, the Business & Management Faculty of UU shares the honour bestowed by the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency), the UK’s higher education standards watchdog, of a standard of teaching that has been rated 24 out of 24.

Postgraduate courses in UU are industry focused, with leading members of the relevant sector invited to sit on the validating panel when a new course is proposed. Bespoke business courses such as the MSc in Executive Leadership are tailor made with the goals of the student’s sponsoring organisation in mind.

Business leaders from the Republic enrol in this high quality part-time course, which incorporates a best practice study visit to the Graduate School of Management, Boston College, USA.

The University of Ulster also prides itself on the quality of distance-learning provision in the virtual Campus One; in fact, all 105 of the ROI postgraduate students enrolled in Biomedical Science are distance learners.

’We’re building up a significant number of very effective distance learning courses within the science area in particular,’ says Postgraduate Recruitment Officer Elaine Wilson. ‘It’s good for those students who are time-poor and located a distance from the campus, such as in the case of students from the Republic.’ The impressive array of postgraduate distance learning options range from Forensic and Legal Medicine to Geographic Information Systems, and are available in two formats: the pure form involves no attendance on campus, while another option includes occasional attendance at tutorials and seminars in the university.