Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor, T.D., Minister of State with special responsibility for Higher Education, today (19 December 2018) announced funding of €1.65m for 16 innovative projects to enhance teaching and learning in the higher education institutions.

The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education supports institutions and their staff to enhance the learning experience of all students. This funding complements the Higher Education Authorities Innovation & Transformation Fund.

Minister Mitchell O’Connor said “the National Forum supports one of our key objectives for the higher education sector, to develop a valued and informed teaching and learning culture, with a strong focus on providing a quality education for our students, enabling them to fulfil their potential. In providing the best quality teaching and learning environment, we are helping to shape future generations by developing a system that is more responsive to the needs of our economy, society and most importantly the needs of learners.”

Driving teaching and learning enhancement through capacity building is a core element of the National Forum’s work and requires the integration of its four strategic priorities:

• Professional Development of all those who Teach – Promoting evidence-based, flexible, inclusive professional development for all those who teach
• Teaching and Learning in a Digital World – Supporting those who learn, teach and support learning to embrace and harness the potential of digital technologies
• Teaching and Learning Enhancement within Disciplines – Recognising that disciplines or subject areas are a key unit of change in higher education
• Enabling Student Success – Developing a vision of success, in partnership with students, to provide all students with the opportunity to fulfil their potential and to ensure that they are professionally competent, generators of new knowledge, ethically conscious and equipped to flourish in a global world

The objectives and priorities of the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund reflect and support the enhancement and transformation agenda that is being pursued at both a national and a European level. These projects maintain the focus on strong sectoral collaboration for national impact, with institutions collaborating nationally, while also enabling capacity building at a local level.

Details of the 16 projects being funded are available on the National Forum website –www.teachingandlearning.ie