New Fourth Level Education Announcement

New fourth level education proposal to create thousands of jobs

According to the Irish Independent

Wednesday March 11 2009

The Taoiseach has unveiled a major new initiative between the country's top two universities, aimed at creating thousands of jobs over the next ten years.

Trinity College and UCD are teaming up to create what has been described as a new fourth level academy, similar in concept to the IFSC in Dublin.

Up to one thousand graduates will be trained every year in specialised areas, in a bid to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

It is estimated that this will result in the creation of around 300 new enterprises in this country over the next ten years.

Students to suffer as VECs hit with cutbacks

THE country's 33 Vocational Education Committees are set to lose €13.3m as a result of the Budget, a new study has revealed.

The loss is due to changes in staffing levels, a 5pc cut in adult and further education, an 8pc cut in youth grants and a 3pc cut in VECs' payroll.

Irish Vocational Education Association's General secretary Michael Moriarty last night said the cuts would particularly hit the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

The survey claims that more than 80 posts allocated to disadvantaged areas would be lost.

The schools that will lose out were previously classified as disadvantaged but are not included in the DEIS scheme (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Education).

Disadvantaged

DEIS was introduced four years ago and currently caters for 876 primary and post-primary schools at a cost of €80m this year. But 130 other schools previously regarded as disadvantaged have lost that status.

As well as losing posts they will also lose financial supports such as book grants.

Mr Moriarty said that while it is important to focus supports in DEIS schools it was lunacy to assume there were no children from disadvantaged backgrounds in non-DEIS schools.

"These pupils may now be left to fend for themselves in schools which have considerably fewer resources and less capacity to address their needs. In such cases, it will be the survival of the fittest, and my fear is that the vulnerable will fall away in the absence of the range of supports that are confined now to DEIS schools," he added.

He said two factors alone -- where young people lived and their family income -- could tip the balance in favour of advantage or disadvantage.

The vast majority of the 3pc who left school with no qualifications came from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds, Mr Moriarty added.

- John Walshe Education Editor Irish Independent

Record demand hits college points hopes

Todays headline in the Irish Independent on the eve of the Leaving Cert Exams

A RECORD number of applications for college places has hit hopes of a dramatic fall in entry points for major courses.

A total of 68,300 students are chasing about 40,000 places in the autumn, according to new figures from the Central Applications Office (CAO).

The figures were disclosed as more than 50,000 students prepare to sit their Leaving Certificate examinations on Wednesday.

The final total will represent an increase of 2,500 on last year and will sharpen competition for some high-points courses such as law, medicine and dentistry.

The numbers taking the Leaving are up by more than 1,000 on last year and most have applied to the CAO for college places.

Apart from more Leaving Cert applicants, there are also extra applications from adults this year. And more students are applying from Further Education colleges with Post Leaving Certificate qualifications. There is also a small rise in the number of overseas applicants.

But John McGinnity, assistant registrar with the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, said students should not be alarmed by the effect on points of the 2pc rise in Leaving Cert applicants.

"It's hard to predict," he said. "But the increase is a reminder to students not to take it for granted that points will be lower this year. They should put in the effort and do the best they can."

The CAO reports 67,810 applications to date and a further 500 or so are expected by the end of the 'offer season'.

These will come from existing college students who want to transfer to another college course and from new applicants for late vacancies which inevitably arise in hard-to-fill courses.

The CAO system has been operating since 1977 and the previous highest number of applicants was four years ago, when 66,222 people applied for places.

Older

Among this year's applicants is a high number of older adults, including people who have retired. Statistics obtained by the Irish Independent show that last year there were 265 full-time and 474 part-time students in our universities and teacher training colleges over 60 years of age -- up from 236 and 418 the previous year.

In the Institute of Technology sector, there were 84 full-time and 81 part-time students in the 60-plus age bracket. While many are in their 60s, there are groups of students in their 70s and even into their 80s taking courses at present.

The most popular subject choices tend to be history, fine arts, archaeology, religion and English. The Higher Education Authority said that there are 10,500 people aged 30 and over studying full-time in our higher education institutions. Many are returning to education to boost their career prospects.

- John Walshe Education Editor