CÉIM Background
CÉIM was initiated by University of Galway Students’ Union in 2013 and was first piloted in collaboration with the College of Engineering and Informatics in September 2013.
CÉIM was introduced by the School of Law for BA Law students in the College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies during the 2015/2016 academic year.
CÉIM was further rolled out in the College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies in 2016/17, where it was made available by the School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies to Geography students.
In 2018/19, CÉIM was introduced for 1st year Political Science and Sociology students, and it was made available to the following students in 2019/20: Denominated Psychology, Psychological Studies, Civil Law, Law & Human Rights, and Law & Business.
CÉIM launched in Spanish in September 2022. CÉIM will pilot in Hotel Management, Biotechnology and Genetics & Genomics in September 2023.
Peer Assisted Learning
CÉIM is a Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) programme, also known as Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS). It is inspired by various student-led initiatives which support the 1st year experience at a range of universities in Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand.
It particularly draws on experience from successful PAL/PASS programmes at the University of Manchester, Bournemounth University, Athlone Institute of Technology and Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. We are indebted to these institutions for their willingness to share information about their experiences of peer support, as well as their documentation.
All PAL/PASS programmes are based on the Supplemental Instruction (SI) model which was developed by Dr. Deanna Martin at the University of Missouri in Kansas City (UMKC) in 1973. It has continually been recognised by the US Department for Education as one of the few post-secondary ‘Exemplary Educational Programs’.
Supplemental Instruction is now used in more than 1,500 universities and colleges in nearly 30 countries. There are a variety of names for SI, such as PASS and PAL, but the basic model is very similar.