Accessible and Inclusive Pathways to Higher Education: Outcomes from a Pilot Feasibility Study of Irish Transition-Year Student Participation with University Pre-college Courses

The TYDE programme is a college-in-school initiative which aims to develop partnerships between Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) and local schools. It provides second-level students with an authentic experience of what is required to succeed in university programmes within the familiar environment of school. This experience supports students in transitioning from secondary school to university life, encourages participation, and supports good college and career choices. Transition-year students (15–16 year-olds) take core university modules from engineering programmes running at TU Dublin. The students get to experience first-year modules under the same conditions as college students. In this paper we present the results from a pilot study of the delivery of a pre-college course between TU Dublin and Colaiste Pobail Setanta, Dublin. This consisted of students taking the first-year engineering module Engineering Workshop Practice 1 (EENG H1016). The students involved completed the first-year module under the same delivery and assessment requirements as those enrolled in six engineering programmes in TU Dublin Blanchardstown campus. The results demonstrate that TY students are capable of successfully completing the module.