Age

The 10 principles for an age-friendly university are:

1. To encourage the participation of older adults in all the core activities of the university, including educational and research programmes.
2. To promote personal and career development in the second half of life and to support those who wish to pursue 'second careers'.
3. To recognise the range of educational needs of older adults (from those who were early school-leavers through to those who wish to pursue Masters or PhD qualifications).
4. To promote intergenerational learning to facilitate the reciprocal sharing of expertise between learners of all ages.
5. To widen access to online educational opportunities for older adults to ensure a diversity of routes to participation.
6. To ensure that the university's research agenda is informed by the needs of an ageing society and to promote public discourse on how higher education can better respond to the varied interests and needs of older adults.
7. To increase the understanding of students of the longevity dividend and the increasing complexity and richness that ageing brings to our society.
8. To enhance access for older adults to the university's range of health and wellness programmes and its arts and cultural activities.
9. To engage actively with the university's own retired community.
10. To ensure regular dialogue with organisations representing the interests of the ageing population.

Age-Friendly Staff Network

The Age-Friendly Staff Network exists to celebrate and recognise the age dimension at RCSI, embedding the value of positive ageing as part of RCSI’s organisational culture. The Network aims to engender a supportive, inclusive and diverse working environment without fear of age discrimination for staff members at all life stages.

Positive Ageing Week

Each October we mark Positive Ageing Week (PAW) to celebrate the older people in our lives and the contribution they make to our families, workplaces, and our communities. By affording older people and organisations the opportunity to tell their stories, PAW can help in enabling these voices to influence new strategies on ageing. The Age-Friendly Staff Network hosts a variety of events during the week carefully designed and curated by colleagues in RCSI and in partnership with Age Action Ireland.

Active Retirement Group

The University liaises with the Retirement Planning Council of Ireland to offer employees the option to avail of a retirement course in advance of their leaving date. Retired staff currently maintains their connection with RCSI, and with each other, through informal networks.

Mature students

To be considered as a mature student you must also be an EU applicant. Applicants must be 23 years of age on or before 1 January in the year in which they will be enrolling in the course to be deemed eligible for mature entry. There are 15 mature entry places available for the Undergraduate Medicine programme.    

Local older people

RCSI hosts an annual event for local older people. The event is for older people living in the catchment area of the University and sees active retirement and community groups from across the south east inner city come together for a night of music, memories and dancing.