Posts Tagged ‘ Students ’
What a year it’s been; Hitler birthday cakes, mutant rats, and Bob Geldof off to space! To celebrate the end of another 365 days here are some of NIB’s favourite stories of the year.
Kicking off the year in festive spirit a man in Derry was fined after stealing a CCTV camera which “became his friend”. Police found Peter Morrison, 24, drunk and “petting” the camera as they arrived to arrest him. CCTV pets are for life not just for Christmas. Continue reading
There are monkeys loose in Belfast. Actual monkeys, running about, acting the maggot. They escaped from Belfast Zoo and have since been blamed for trouble in the Holy Lands, excessive drinking, late night parties and defecating in the street. (For those that don’t know the Holy Lands are a notoriously student populated part of the city. You’ve probably seen the area on the news when the lads have set light to a car.) Still, if you can’t beat ’em join ’em is what Martin McGuinness and First Minister Peter Robinson are reported to have said in a joint statement.
VAT on hurleys is to remain the same at 23% despite ash dieback affecting the trees they’re made from. We’ll be forced to make sliotars from spuds and our sticks from ham sandwiches! It’s not really a joke though, despite the issue being brought to the attention of a certain Noo-Nar man it was rejected as VAT can only be reduced in very “limited cases”, like if you’re a multi-billion dollar technology company. The trees may be dying off but soon it’ll be the hurley makers business dying back. Continue reading
Do you smell like sheep s***? Do people avoid you because of your stink? Are you a hardened farmer with his own willies and appropriate tan? If you can drive a bullet proof John Dere you could be in luck , Pope Francis may have the job for you! Apparently the Pope wants his bishops to be real shepherds, actual shepherds, with sheep. No not really, but he wants them to be leaders of their flock, part of the farm, a bishop in wolves clothing even. Or sheets clothing anyway. Continue reading
Aer Lingus passengers have dropped. Passenger numbers, passenger numbers. Don’t panic. The airline apparently blames the timing of Easter this year, for the decrease in 2.5 pc. Bloody Jesus.
If only the low cost airline had been around in 2345 BC when Ireland suffered twenty years of rain. Twenty years. Everyone would have been desperate to get away. Apparently a volcanic eruption caused the flood – tying in nicely with the dates for Noah’s grand cruise – loading the atmosphere with dust and cooling the earth’s temperature. Apparently these freak weather events occur every thousand or so years, with the last in 540 AD, so we’re overdue another. Continue reading
Six students, from the National University of Galway and Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, were arrested this afternoon while staging a sit-in at Enda Kenny’s constituency office in Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
The students were protesting over the decision to increase the qualifying income threshold for the student maintenance grant by 3 per cent, a decision which was announced in last week’s cut throat budget.
The students were aggrieved by this decision, on which the government had promised they wouldn’t go ahead with. They felt they had no option but to occupy the Taoiseach’s office as somebody has to stand up for the students, who continue to be hit hard.
The six students, some of which are Student Union officers, where arrested for what Gardai deemed trespassing.
The Union of Students in Ireland says around 8 per cent of the total estimated 80,000 grant recipients will be affected by raising the threshold, with some students receiving a reduced grant and others not qualifying for a grant at all. It estimates that 6,500 students stand to lose up to €750 in maintenance assistance over the course of the academic year.
The 200 Million dollar man, or Rory McIlroy as he’s known to his mum, has had his fair share of news paper pages in the last week, lamenting his considerable earnings to date. The young golf pro has reportedly signed up with Nike as part of a sponsorship deal that will make him the richest man in sport.
Following the success of the Olympics the suggestion of many millions per annum might prove inspirational for youngsters. In fact they may have a better chance of swinging a stick at the Ryder Cup then receiving their college grants.
Currently 66,000 students are in the process of applying for monetary grants. Out of that 66,000 only 27% have actually completed the process, a failure condemned by Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore defended the government, accusing Martin of ‘frightening’ people.
Coming only a few weeks after sending household charge demands to the deceased, the government’s inability to handle paperwork certainly is scary.
Unless like Rory you’ve got some cash stashed, the idea of the annual Christmas shop probably sends shivers down your spine. However Ireland is reportedly, and somewhat surprisingly, home to the biggest spenders in Europe come the festive season. The average cost of gift giving reaching almost €500 with €300 spent just on food and drink.
We’re not stupid though, cash gifts also top the Christmas lists of 37% of people asked. It’s nice to see amongst all the, lights, tinsel and religion we haven’t forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.
Perhaps it is a display of early Christmas spirit that has seen Former AIB chief Eugene Sheehy very kindly agree to take a pension cut from €325,000 to €250,000. He’s taking something all right.
With all this talk of money it’s easy to forget that in celeb news this Sunday sees the return to our screens of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here with its usual cast of has-beens and no bodies.
In fact I’ve forgotten again already.
And finally, Newstalk radio were offering one lucky listener the trip of a lifetime yesterday. Be flown to New York by Aer Lingus before jumping into an Avis hire car and in the words of George Hook, take a “leisurely” drive down to Washington DC. He obviously didn’t get the memo.
Students across the country are unhappy with their college courses and various aspects contained within them. If a survey recently performed by a well respected student website is to believed.
The survey done by student website campus.ie has shown that just over a third of students in third level education on Ireland are unhappy with college courses be it in their composition, their promises or their real world worth. Out of 3,894 students surveyed, 44% of students said they would take a different course if they could go back and fill out the CAO again, an imposing figure considering university today and its supposed high levels of education.
This may be down to a lack of clear explanations and outlines to what the course actually entails. Many college prospectuses’ can be too convoluted and may require a better knowledge of the course subject than obtained at second level. This is shown in that 30% of students noted that their college prospectus didn’t accurately describe their course.
The high levels of dissatisfaction with their chosen course according to the survey may be linked to the notion that students did not feel themselves accurately prepared for college after completion of secondary school. Campus.ie surveyed that 38% of students felt that second level education did not accurately prepare them for college.
And once in college, stress has also shown to be a major factor in the completion of third level degrees with 66% of students having considered dropping out due to stress.
These factors are leading to a large amount of students leaving third year education in turmoil and incoming students feeling even more pressure as they struggle to pick the right course.
Latest News
Irish News Review 