Institution: National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG)

About Ireland: Ireland is about 302 miles long and 170 miles wide and covers approximately 32,600 square miles. There are 32 counties – 26 in the Republic of Ireland and 6 in Northern Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland is a parliamentary democracy with a president as head of state. Northern Ireland has its own regional government but is part of the United Kingdom.

There are about 6 million people living on the island – 4.3 million people live in the Republic of Ireland and 1.7 million in Northern Ireland. One-third of the population is under the age of 29.

Ireland is a small highly globalised economy, with a large exporting sector, and a significant number of multinational corporations. The Irish economy entered its 5th year of economic expansion in 2016 with growth in consumer spending, tax revenue, building and construction and expansion in both manufacturing and services sectors.

Ireland’s education system is amongst the best in the World. It ranks in the top 10 globally for – Higher Education Achievement, – Quality of education and – Meeting the needs of a competitive economy.

The Irish Government’s technology skills action plan aims to make Ireland a global leader for technology talent and skills. The target is to meet 74% of forecast industry demand for high-level technology skills from the education system by 2018, up from the current level, estimated at over 60%.  In line with industry norms, it is envisaged that remaining demand will be met by continuing to attract highly skilled people from abroad. This will be achieved through a number of measures one being the issuance of up to 2,000 employment permits per year to experienced technology professionals with skills in high demand.  In addition to this through the Tech Life Initiative, the government plan to increase the number of people working in tech in Ireland by 3,000 per year.

Galway, a harbor city is located on the west coast of Ireland.  This year, Galway won the title of European Capital of Culture 2020.  Galway is a cultural centre, attracting thousands to the many festivals throughout the year. A few of the big attractions include The Cúirt International Festival of Literature, the Galway Arts Festival, the Galway Races and the Oyster Festival. They are famous throughout Ireland and beyond. Theatre lovers are particularly blessed with a number of superb theatre companies based in the city, including the world-renowned Druid Theatre Company. The state-of-the-art Town Hall Theatre was opened in 1993 and covers all aspects of the performing arts including concerts, ballet, musicals, and operas.

Reasons to study at NUIG (Pictures of NUIG Campus)

From humble beginnings, NUI Galway has grown massively in size and reputation over the past 170 years. Today we are ranked among the Top 2% of universities in the world and recognised as being one of the best universities for our international outlook.

The Quadrangle at NUIG was built with local limestone in Tudor Gothic style, modeled after Christ Church at the University of Oxford.

The Award Winning, Engineering Building

Admission Alerts

There are no specific end dates. It depends on course capacity; offers are made on a rolling basis. Some of our popular courses are already full. NUI Galway has only one intake per year, which is in September. All our courses start in the first and second week of September.

Indian Community and Cultural events at NUIG

We have a very active Indian Society at NUIG. Their mission is to promote the Indian culture & language to students at NUI Galway by celebrating everything Indian! The society works actively for the continuous participation of events within and outside our campus throughout the year, like reaching the needy through our charities.  The society has currently over 300 members and it was the winner of best international society for the year 2014-2015.

NUIG has numerous cultural events every year.  Recently we opened the ‘O’ Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance’.  The president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins referred to the Centre as “playing a key role in establishing Galway’s reputation as Ireland’s cultural capital and an international centre for innovative drama, theatre and performance.”

Professor Patrick Lonergan, Director of the O’Donoghue Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies at NUI Galway, said: “As Galway moves towards 2020, when it will be Europe’s Capital of Culture, we have a huge opportunity to transform attitudes to the creative arts, and to ensure they are valued both in themselves and for their broader impact. By placing a theatre right at the heart of its campus, NUI Galway is providing a tangible statement of the University’s sense of the importance of creativity.”

NUI Galway has an initiative called ‘Arts in Action’, which offers access to a variety of international-standard arts events throughout the academic year. Each year is packed with rich and diverse performances focusing on emerging and established professional artists and also on performances by international names from the world of theatre, literature and traditional music.  All events are free to attend.

NUIG has many societies in which each organize their own events. For example, we have many societies that organize cultural events such as the Film Soc, Baking Soc, French Soc, Gardening Soc, Trad Soc along with many others.

Enterprise collaborations with Indian colleges and NUIG

NUIG India research relations have been further strengthened by the signing of agreements between the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB) at NUI Galway and four Indian Institutions:

• The Materials Research Centre at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
• Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
• Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi,
• Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Science & Technology, Trivandrum

Number of Indian Students currently in the Institute

Currently, there are about 150 Indian students registered at NUIG.

Popular courses offered by NUIG

Scholarships schemes for Indian students 2017 – 2018

We have many scholarships for Indian Students.  There are two Sir Peter Freyer Specila Merit Scholarships to give to students in the area of Science, Bio-innovation and Science.  These are full fee waiver scholarships.

We also have three other full fee waiver scholarships to give to students and are aimed at all academic programmes in NUI Galway.  These scholarships are known as the Max Arthur Macauliffe Special Merit Scholarship.

NUI Galway is also giving students partial scholarships to the value of €2000 to €2750. There are 25 of these to give to students and theses scholarships are known as the Postgraduate Merit Scholarships.  These scholarships are aimed at postgraduate programmes in all areas of the NUI Galway curriculum.

For Undergraduate students, we have ten Undergraduate Merit Scholarships to give to students and these comprise of a partial fee waiver to the value of €2000. These are aimed at all areas of the NUI Galway curriculum for undergraduate students.

Employment opportunities for the Indian students

In Galway, the job opportunities tend to be in IT & Business sectors.  Another sector which has enjoyed growth is the medical technology area.  Many companies in the medical device/ Biosciences/ Pharmaceutical industry employs a lot of people in Galway.  Many of the big IT companies such as SAP, HP & Fidelity Investments have their headquarters in Galway. Other IT companies include Avaya, IBM, CISCO Systems, Oracle and many others. Companies in the medical device industry include Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Merit Medical, Creganna and Chanelle Medical along with many others.

NUI Galway has a Careers & Placement Office on Campus.  Our Careers Office has been in contact with over 2000 companies so far this year.  We also have on campus career fairs throughout the year in which over 400 industry partners partake.  96% of our undergraduates and 95% of postgraduate students are in employment or further study within 6 months of graduating from NUI Galway.

The names of the courses that see maximum enrollment by Indian students

The top courses in terms of receiving the most applications from Indian students this year were the MSc in Data Analytics, MSc in Business Analytics, MSc in Information Systems Management and the MSc in International Management.

Indian Student Ambassador Testimonial:

Sai Abinesh is studying an MSc in Computer Science (Data Analytics) and his blog can be read here

Staff Profiles

Professor Lokesh Joshi, Vice-President for Research, NUI Galway

Now living close to the sea in Galway with his wife and two young daughters; Joshi grew up in the desert of India, in the State of Rajasthan, where he completed his Bachelors in chemistry and biology and a Masters degree in zoology.   With a strong curiosity for the natural world, from an early age, he wanted to understand the mechanisms controlling complex biological systems. Awarded with a British High Commission Fellowship to study in the UK, Joshi received his Ph.D. in biological sciences at Bath University where he worked on the strategies adopted by pathogenic fungi to colonize the host. Following graduate work, he joined the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where he completed Post-Doctoral and Research Associate experience in molecular fungal pathology and glycobiology.

An interest in biomedical technology and glycobiology took Joshi to Arizona State University in 2000 where he was appointed Assistant Professor in Life Sciences and then as Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and a member of the Biodesign Institute. There he led a team of researchers working on the glycosylation pathway discovery and engineering and peptide therapeutics to produce biomolecules of therapeutic value.   During this period, Professor Joshi also co-founded a successful biotechnology startup, Arizona Engineered Therapeutics. In 2005, Joshi was appointed the Interim Director of the Center for Protein and Peptide Therapeutics and then as the Director of the Center for Glycosciences and Technology in the Biodesign Institute at ASU and was active on interdisciplinary research programs for glycotechnology development.

At NUI Galway, Joshi’s lab is comprised of a team made up of experienced and highly capable researchers including four members from Arizona State University; Michelle Kilcoyne, Kausar Nadim Samli, Jared Gerlach and Emily-Joy Farah Samli who are all involved in a wide array of projects for basic glycoscience discovery and the development of next generation glycotechnology tools. Joshi’s team is also collaborating synergistically with existing expertise in Ireland and at NUI Galway, including NCBES and Martin Ryan Institute. More information on Professor Lokesh Joshi can be found here.

Professor- Abbay Pandit, Director of CÚRAM, The Centre for Research in Medical Devices

Prof. Pandit is from Mumbai in India. He has received numerous awards and distinctions. He was inducted as an International Fellow in Biomaterials Science and Engineering by the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering and elected as a Fellow of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative International Society. He is the first Ireland-based academic to be bestowed with this honor. He has been an elected member on the Council for both the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society and European Society for Biomaterials Society. Prof Pandit has published more than 180 papers in peer-reviewed journals, filed numerous patent applications and has licensed four technologies to medical device companies.  In recognition of his track record in technology transfer Prof. Pandit secured the Academic/Emerging Medical technology Company of the Year – Silver Award for 2013 awarded by the Irish Medical Devices Association, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. Prof Pandit is an Executive Editorial Board of the Tissue Engineering journal, an Associate Editor of the Biomaterials journal. In addition he serves as an Editorial Board Member for 14 other journals. He has co-ordinated three EU grants to date.

More information about Professor Abbay Pandit can be found here.