Graduate and Professional Studies

Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) is the division at UL responsible for the promotion, admissions, innovation and development of postgraduate and professional programmes.

Driven by academic excellence, educational offerings are broad and ever evolving. With UL’s firmly established links to industry, our programme content is industry-led and research-driven. Our accredited programmes are professionally orientated and employer-focused, with many aimed at addressing specific skills gaps.

The Graduate and Professional Studies team, under the leadership of Geraldine Carroll, Associate Vice President, has responsibility for three key areas, Admissions, Marketing & Recruitment and Professional Education.

Graduate and Professional Studies is located within the Provost and Deputy President (PDP) Office. The Associate Vice President GPS reports to the Office of the PDP. The PDP is the University’s chief academic officer, with responsibility for overseeing the quality and delivery of the academic programmes offered by the university and all aspects of a student’s academic journey from admission to graduation.

What we do?

Our mission is to support ULs strategic growth in postgraduate and professional students by providing a student-centred recruitment and admissions experience and market intelligence to drive new programme development as part of an innovative and technology driven service delivery.

Admissions

The Admissions Team, led by Joachim Barnett, is responsible for the management of the prospective student lifecycle, from inbound enquiry to orientation/onboarding onto postgraduate programmes and other undergraduate and micro-credential offerings in professional education.

A key component is the operation of the applications management system which extends to include applications to full-time undergraduate programmes from outside of the EU.

Here to help applicants with queries on gaining admission to postgraduate and professional education.

Marketing & Recruitment

The Marketing and Recruitment team at GPS is responsible for the development and delivery of integrated marketing strategies aligned with UL's strategic recruitment objectives.

Led by Laura Chawke, the team is passionate about supporting future students to discover over 200 postgraduate opportunities open to them at UL and assisting them on their journey to application and enrolment. The team works closely with Faculty colleagues to launch new programmes, coordinate outreach events and maintain close connections with future students.

Here to help with queries on postgraduate marketing, postgraduate prospectus, programme promotion, GPS website, GPS Social, postgraduate events.

Professional Education

The Professional Education Team, led by Michael Hennessy, is responsible for funding submission and management with over €30M in funding secured on behalf of UL in the last four years. Funding has driven strategic innovation in the form of education projects and stimulus funding for lifelong and professional learners.

The team has a lead university role in enterprise engagement through leadership on national and regional skills forum, working with higher education authorities, state agencies, employer representation bodies and many companies.

Here to help with queries on funding, EU Projects, HCI Projects, enterprise engagement and Micro-Credentials.