BSc (Hons) in Intellectual Disability Nursing

Ireland

7

What will I learn?

This Intellectual Disability Nursing course will provide you with excellent opportunities to develop knowledge and skills relevant to professional Intellectual Disability Nursing practice, including independent and critical thinking, and problem-solving. It will enable you to deliver nursing care that is up-to-date and based on the best current evidence.

This four-year full-time degree course is offered in partnership with Cork's COPE Foundation, and upon completion you can apply to register as an Intellectual Disability Nurse with the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI), the profession’s regulatory body. You will then be ready to start work as a qualified Intellectual Disability Nurse in a variety of clinical settings immediately after graduation.

The broad aim of the course is to promote your personal, intellectual and professional development to meet the role dimensions of a qualified practitioner of Intellectual Disability Nursing. Each year, you will study modules in both theory and clinical practice. Clinical practice modules require you to be in supervised clinical practice in hospital, community and other healthcare settings for 35 hours per week for a number of weeks each year.

Theory modules include both nursing, and biological and social science modules, some of which are core (shared with students from other nursing/midwifery branches), while others are discipline-specific (taken by Intellectual Disability Nursing only).

The BSc (Hons) Intellectual Disability Nursing course at UCC is a highly sought-after course, as evidenced by the consistently high points required for entry to the course.

We can offer you a wide variety of clinical placements across a number of university hospitals and community facilities, representing all of the major Intellectual Disability specialties. We can also offer opportunities to study abroad and have a large suite of postgraduate courses available to our graduates to facilitate further study needs.

Skills and Careers Information

The course aims to provide you with sound clinical nursing skills (and the supporting knowledge base) necessary for starting your professional career as an Intellectual Disability Nurse. These skills will be further developed through clinical experience and further study at postgraduate and in-service levels.

You will also develop skills in independent thinking, problem-solving, and analytical and clinical decision-making, as well as fundamental research utilisation and application skills.

Upon graduation, you may seek employment as an Intellectual Disability Nurse. Intellectual Disability Nurses work in a wide range of areas including acute care, respite care, community facilities, residential facilities, workshops, schools, retirement care, and home nursing.

Traditionally, Irish nurses are highly regarded by other countries, enhancing work opportunities abroad, in particular in the UK, Canada, Australia, and the US.

Which department am I in?

College of Medicine and Health

Study options

Full Time (4 years)

Tuition fees
€23,400.00 (21,15,924) per year
EU Student Contribution Charge: €3,000 per annum and the Capitation Fee: €147 per annum; EU Total fee: €7,253

*Price shown is for indicative purposes, please check with institution

Start date

Expected January 2026

Venue

UCC Campus

College Road,

Cork,

T12 K8AF, Republic of Ireland

Entry requirements

For international students

Non-EU applicants are expected to have educational qualifications of a standard equivalent to the Irish Leaving Certificate

Duolingo English Test (DET): DET 120 with a minimum score of 120 in each individual section.

IELTS - International English Language Testing System/ IELTS Indicator Test: Minimum overall score of 6.5 and a minimum of 6.5 in each band

TOEFL - Test of English as a Foreign Language - TOEFL iBT/TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition Test: TOEFL 90 (Listening 23; Reading 21; Speaking 22; Writing 23)

University of Cambridge: 176 overall with not less than 176 in each element of the test

Pearson PTE Academic: Minimum of 63 (with at least 63 for each item in the Communicative Skills section)

*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.

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About University College Cork

UCC is an award-winning, world-class teaching and research university with over 170 years of history.

  • Ranked in the top 2% of universities worldwide
  • Cork is rated as a top ‘cultural & creative city’
  • Over 3,000 international students
  • Over 90% of graduates secure employment after graduating