American College Dublin, a constituent college of Irish American University, is a private not-for-profit liberal arts institution accredited by the
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...
(MSCHE). Established in 1993 in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
Ireland, the institution is located in the center of Dublin on
Merrion Square
Merrion Square () is a Georgian garden square on the southside of Dublin city centre.
History
The square was laid out in 1752 by the estate of Viscount FitzWilliam and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. The demand fo ...
in a number of Georgian era houses, one of which is the childhood home of
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
. In addition to its American accreditation with MSCHE, American College Dublin offers programs placed at level-eight and level-nine on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications which are accredited by the Irish body Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) and for which graduating students receive QQI awards.
American College Dublin was founded as an independent educational trust in May 1993 by
Lynn University
Lynn University is a private university in Boca Raton, Florida. Founded in 1962, the university awards associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees. It is named for the Lynn family (Christine E. and Eugene M. Lynn). It has a total ...
, a liberal arts institution located in Boca Raton, Florida. The college admitted its first liberal arts and business degree students in September 1993 and graduated its first class in 1996. The development of the college's Dublin campus continued through the 1990s; in 2002 the institution expanded its operations with the establishment of a sister campus in
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, which became known as American College Delaware.
Location
The college's corner building at 1 Merrion Square was the childhood home of
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
who spent his formative years there from 1855 to 1878. His father
William Wilde
Sir William Robert Wills Wilde FRCSI (March 1815 – 19 April 1876) was an Irish oto- ophthalmologic surgeon and the author of significant works on medicine, archaeology and folklore, particularly concerning his native Ireland. He was the fat ...
lived at the house from 1855 until his death in 1876.
Degrees and courses
The college offers a number of undergraduate and graduate courses validated by
QQI
Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI; ga, Dearbhú Cáilíochta agus Cáilíochtaí Éireann) is the national agency responsible for qualifications in Ireland. It was established by the Oireachtas in 2012 following the amalgamation of the ...
.
There are also a number of courses validated through the
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...
.
The following bachelor's degree programs are offered by the school:
* Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre
* Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performing Arts
* Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
* Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Liberal Arts
* BA (Hons) in International Business
* BA in International Business
* Bachelor of Arts in Event Management
* Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Management
Offered Graduate programs include:
* Master of Fine Arts in Performance
* Master of Fine Arts in Music for Motion Pictures and Contemporary Media
* Master of Fine Arts in Fashion Design
* Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
* Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Practice
* MBA in Oil and Gas Management
* Masters in Business Administration
* Master of Business in International Business
An Associate of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre is also offered.
[
The college also offers a Study Abroad program to students from the United States. Students can study at ACD during the fall and spring semesters (15 weeks) as well as in an eight-week summer semester.
American College Dublin has two undergraduate programs for which graduating students receive QQI awards:
*BA (Hons) in Liberal Arts
*BA (Hons) in International Business
American College Dublin has one graduate program for which graduating students receive a QQI award:
*MB in International Business.
]
Accreditation
American College Dublin has been accredited by the Philadelphia-based Middle States Commission on Higher Education since 2013. The college has also been an accredited institution of the Irish state accreditation agencies since 1996 (NCEA from 1996 to 1999, HETAC from 1999 to 2014, QQI from 2014 to the present). The college was the subject of a critical report by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC, now absorbed into QQI), which highlighted a series of institutional failures at the American College and made no less than 37 recommendations for change. The college was reprimanded for calling itself the “Irish American University” when it had no status as a university. However, the college did submit an institutional review to HETAC in June 2011, in which they outlined a number of steps they had taken to improve quality.
", American College Dublin, Institutional Review, Progress report submitted in accordance with the accreditation requirements of the Higher Education and Training Award Council, June 2011
The college underwent in 2010 an institutional review as part of the cyclical accreditation process of the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC, now absorbed into QQI). Several recommendations were made; these were addressed and accepted fully by HETAC in follow-up reports in the course of 2011 and the college's institutional recognition by the body remains in place. All of the college's HETAC programs were reaccredited under programmatic review in 2011 and, by QQI, in the following quinquennial review cycle in 2016. The college received full accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in 2013.
Program changes
In 2010, the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) limited the term of its validation of the college's psychology program to one year, in the course of which it required new validation criteria to be met. Given the uncertainty about the future of the program's PSI validation, the college arranged for students who wished to complete the degree under PSI validation to transfer to a similar program at Dublin Business School. All of the affected students elected to transfer out of the program.
Rankings
American College Dublin was listed as one of the top-five best places to study abroad by Buzzfeed in 2014. In Abroad 101's "Top Ten Study Abroad Programs" list, ACD ranked #1 in 2013 and #3 in 2014.
References
External links
Official website
American College Dublin Study Abroad Programmes
{{DEFAULTSORT:American College, Dublin
American College Dublin,
Education in Dublin (city)
1993 establishments in Ireland