Ruth Howard
'The course gave me the opportunity to choose between doing a year long internship or a year long Erasmus. It gives students a great opportunity to develop their chosen interest, and do it in a unique way.'
Why did you choose this particular course?
I was unsure about what I wanted to do when I was leaving school. I had previously done the CTYI courses in Criminology where we had a few classes in the intro to Criminal Law, and it led me to choosing the legal part. However I also really enjoyed French in school and have always wanted to be able to speak more than one language fluently. This course seemed like the perfect combination. What drew me to it was the opportunity to choose between doing a year long internship or a year long Erasmus, as it gives students a great opportunity to develop their chosen interest, and do it in a unique way.
What aspects of this programme were most useful or valuable to you?
The focus that all of my modules had on reflective learning, in both law and french. It was a stark contrast from the Leaving Cert, where there is a lot of rote learning. We were challenged to focus on why we were learning a particular topic and what skills it was giving us. For example, in first year we had an introduction to law class where we had weekly reflections on the class work. We were told to focus on what we had found interesting, if it challenged any preconceptions we had about the law, why it did so. It completely changed my way of looking at tasks, and it has instilled a great habit in me to always think back on what I learned and improved on. This continued into final year, as our final French portfolio focused on our personal journeys with language learning and how we saw it continuing into our post graduate lives. Overall I think it was the most valuable and unique aspect of studying at DCU.
What were your highlights of the programme?
Definitely the Moot Court module, where we were given a fake scenario and represented a client against our classmates. We got to use the Moot Room on campus which made it really feel like we were standing up in court!
Did the programme create opportunities for you?
I think the INTRA programme was a huge part of what created opportunities for me now. I don’t come from a legal background and would have graduated with absolutely no experience or foot in the door had I done a different course. INTRA gave me not just work experience for my CV, but also valuable interview experience in fields I want to pursue, connections and confidence in myself as a professional.