RCSI celebrates 800 new graduates at November conferring ceremonies

First graduates of the RCSI Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education to be conferred

RCSI (The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) will confer 832 students with undergraduate degrees and postgraduate awards at four conferring ceremonies beginning tomorrow in RCSI and continuing on Monday at the RDS, Dublin. Among those graduating will be the first cohort of candidates from the new RCSI Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education.

All ceremonies will be live-streamed and the link to view will be available via the homepage of the RCSI website shortly before the commencement of each of the ceremonies.

The celebrations will begin tonight with the Conferring Dinner for pharmacy and physiotherapy undergraduates and higher degree candidates from the School of Postgraduate Studies. More than 135 candidates and guests will attend the dinner which takes place in the College Hall at 7.30pm. A commemorative video, created to mark the special occasion of the graduation of the class of 2015, will also be unveiled at the dinner.

The ceremonies commence at 11am tomorrow morning in RCSI, 123 St Stephen's Green with the conferring of 90 candidates from full-time undergraduate programmes including medicine, physiotherapy and pharmacy.

At tomorrow's 2pm ceremony 20 candidates will be conferred with the RCSI Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education, which is being awarded for the first time. Graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma in Human Factors in Patient Safety will also be conferred. 78 candidates will be awarded doctoral and masters degrees at the ceremony. These will be conferred with Masters of Surgery (MCh) and higher degrees by research including MSc, MD and PhD; and MSc Healthcare, Ethics and Law.

The Friday afternoon ceremony will conclude with a special award from the National University of Ireland (NUI) for Professors Aidan Bradford and Hannah McGee, who will be conferred with a Doctor of Science (DSc) in Published Work. This doctorate is the highest qualification awarded by NUI in recognition of scholars who have published a substantial body of ground-breaking and influential work and who have achieved outstanding distinction internally in their field of specialisation.

On Monday 9th November, the first ceremony commences at 11am in the RDS with the conferring of 393 candidates with postgraduate degrees in Nursing and Midwifery. A number of awards will be presented at the ceremony including the National Florence Nightingale Committee of Ireland Award, Mary Frances Crowley Award, the Rose Lanigan Medal and Catherine Cummins Gold Medal.

The final ceremony takes place at 3.30pm on Monday in the RDS with the conferring of 246 candidates at the Masters Degree ceremony. Those conferred include a Masters in Pharmacy (MPharm), MSc Industrial Pharmaceutical Science and MSc in Bereavement Studies. Institute of Leadership programme candidates being conferred include MSc Healthcare Management, MSc in Leadership, MSc in Leadership in Health Professions Education and MSc in Quality & Safety in Healthcare Management.

Professor Cathal Kelly, CEO/ Registrar, RCSI said: "The upcoming conferring ceremonies are a wonderful celebration and recognition of our graduate's accomplishments which they have achieved through outstanding ability, diligent application, sacrifice, excellent teaching and, in particular the support of family and friends. I would like to congratulate everyone here today on their achievements and wish them success in their careers as healthcare professionals."

"The graduation of the first cohort of candidates from the RCSI Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education is an important development for the College and a testament to the dedication of our staff members in the ongoing development of their teaching capabilities. This new qualification underscores RCSI's commitment to the professionalism of teaching, learning and assessment within our programmes," Professor Kelly concluded.

RCSI is ranked 46th in the world for ‘International Outlook' and #251 - 300 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2015-2016). It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide.