Learning with Community

Learning with community

Students at the University of Galway have the opportunity to learn outside the classroom, with non-traditional experience-based teaching methods supported by the Engagement Office.

Service Learning

Service Learning encourages students to explore societal issues, both inside and outside the classroom.  Students learn by actively engaging with communities, and academic staff guide them through this engagement.  Communities involved in Service Learning can be charities, non-governmental organisations, statutory bodies, community associations or organisations with a focus on social responsibility.

The objectives of service learning are to

• integrate theory and practice, 
• enhance partnerships between the university and the wider community, and
• increase the civic, personal and academic capacity of students. 

There are thirty service learning modules and degree programmes at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels, offering a truly unique education experience for students and benefits for community partners. 

Case Studies

Conversations Partner Programme

Conversations Partner Programme is an engaged learning module in Speech and Language Therapy run in collaboration with the local community Speech and Language Therapy service and people living with chronic communication disability in the community. Aphasia is a language disorder caused by stroke (see video below created by a graduate with the support of the EDI office).

Learn more about Conversations Partner Programme

Ideas in Action: Philosophy in Irish Schools

P4C focuses on transforming groups of learners from a conventional classroom to a ‘Community of Philosophical Inquiry’ (CPI.) CPIs share ideas, build answers and test their thinking collaboratively with the help of a facilitator.

Learn more about Ideas in Action

The Human Rights Law Clinic at the Irish Centre for Human Rights

The Human Rights Law Clinic at the Irish Centre for Human Rights was launched in 2019 and is directed by Dr Maeve O’Rourke. The Clinic is a 10 ECTS postgraduate module, open to LLM (International Human Rights) students.

The Clinic introduces students to the concept and practice of ‘movement lawyering’ (alternatively described as ‘social change lawyering’ or ‘rebellious lawyering’). It prepares and enables students to contribute their skills to community-based movements for human rights-based social change in Ireland and internationally.

Learn more about the Human Rights Law Clinic

Embedding Small Group Service - Learning in an Undergraduate Medical Programme

This module introduces students at an early stage of their medical degree to the value of learning with and from the community. This is particularly important as these communities represent the populations students will meet as they learn the practice of medicine throughout their clinical careers. In 2025, the University of Galway School of Medicine reintroduced Student Selected Components (SSCs) into the undergraduate curriculum as part of a newly established Foundation Year. SSCs provide students with the opportunity to choose from a diverse range of modules, promoting autonomy and engagement with varied areas of interest. A total of 100 students participated, distributed across 10 SSCs. Each component was designed around service-learning as an experiential educational approach, fostering meaningful engagement with community partners.

Learn more about Embedding Small Group Service