Plans have just been unveiled showing  a new €14m Student Centre at DCU which will significantly enhance the on-campus experience of the university’s students.

The new 4 storey space in the centre of the Glasnevin campus is being developed to reflect the university’s focus on developing a rounded, 21st Century graduate through the creation of a purpose-built space for students’ social, cultural, global engagement and entrepreneurial activities.

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DCU students voted to contribute more than €8m toward the cost of the Centre by paying a levy on top of student fees over the coming years.  The balance will be raised through contributions from Bank of Ireland, a key business partner, the Anthony Ryan Trust and DCU commercial activities.  Construction of the new Centre will commence in 2016 with an expected completion date of early 2018.

The Centre will include:

• an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Hub providing creative workspaces to support and nurture student innovation through commercial and social enterprise start-up programmes and hackathons;
• a Student Leadership and Life-Skills Centre to provide mentoring and training programmes which will help students flourish in 21st Century society as resilient individuals, employees and members of their community;
• an Arts and Culture hub for the performing arts, visual and graphic arts, digital and multimedia arts which will benefit students and the wider community, including a performance space for concerts and festive events with capacity for up to 2500 students;
• a Global Student Centre which will provide a meeting point for all DCU students, representing more than 115 nationalities, to celebrate the rich cultural and religious diversity on campus.

The Student Centre will provide multi-function rooms and office space for use by DCU’s more than 100 student clubs and societies.  In addition, there will be a dedicated print and broadcast media room to house DCUfm and The College View, as well as a game zone and tranquility space.  To complement the holistic ethos of the Centre, it will physically link to the adjacent University Sports Complex building to provide a fully integrated student experience.  Retail space will also be available to provide key services to the student population and generate profits which can be reinvested in the Student Centre.

Professor Brian MacCraith, President of DCU said, “The student experience is at the heart of the DCU value system and we believe that our students should have access to a venue and supports which fully reflect our ambitions for them.  Our vision is to complement DCU’s student-centric, supportive learning environment with exciting facilities which allow each student to develop the skills necessary to succeed personally, professionally and within their community.  Over the next decade, more than 50 000 students will be transformed through their engagement with this new Student Centre.”

Plans for the new Centre have been developed in partnership with the DCU student body to accommodate the current and future needs of students.  Kenneth Browne, President of DCU Students’ Union said,

“This exciting new Student Centre is being made possible as a result of the generosity of the current DCU student community.  Thanks to their vision, future generations of students will have access to a modern facility which will act as a complement to their academic studies.”

In recognition of the significant student commitment to the development of this new Centre, a competition will be held enabling students to choose the name of the Centre, with the winner participating in the official opening of the Centre in 2018.