Michael O’Connell Acting CEO
There are about 1700 students doing the Leaving Cert in Tipperary who have applied to the CAO this year. There are about 4600 students from Tipperary in 3rd level education in colleges all over the country at any one time in Limerick, Cork, Dublin, Galway etc.In Tipperary Institute we have about 750 places at the moment, about 320 in first year so we can’t fit all the students from Tipperary. And even if we could we would not wish to. Many students like to leave home to go to College, they want to experience a new place, or the course they want to do is only available outside Tipperary.
So we recognise that many students will leave Tipperary.
But for those who choose to stay, we in Tipperary Institute promise to provide you with an exciting full education experience that will meet your needs. And we would go further; we believe that for some Tipperary students we are not just a good option but the best option for them.
How can I say this?
1. There are courses available in Tipperary Institute which are not available anywhere else and that are geared to areas people are really interested in today and which will underpin the jobs of the future . For The “ Green Sustainability ” domain we have a new course in 2010 called Smart Sustainable Energy Technologies and we continue to provide the very successful Environmental and Natural Resource Management .The Smart Technology agenda is well catered for with Creative Multimedia and Games Development courses , and the whole Entrepreneurial and Community Agenda is catered for in our wide range of Business courses and our Social and Community Studies programme. Full details of our entire course listing are in our prospectus and on our website.
2. TI will be providing more first year places in September 2010 than ever before. This is in response to a 20% increase in applications over last year. (For Clonmel programmes this increase has been a 50%). Increased places are available across all our programmes .
3. Remember we offer courses at level 6, level 7 and level 8 giving you a stepping stone which enables you to build up your qualifications .So you can do 2 years and get a Higher Certificate qualification (Level 6), add a year for an ordinary degree in (Level 7) and another year for the honours degree (Level 8).
4. There is also the way we teach at TI. Our groups are small, lecturers know your name, you know them and you are more than a number. I have seen the effect of this in students who are really engaged and excited about their subject and so thrive on it.
5. Every course in TI uniquely includes a personal development module in each year. Research has shown that students today need not just technical skills but what employers stress are what we call soft skills, like communicating clearly, making presentations, working in teams, and self awareness. No other Institute provides this approach across all courses.
6. In these times Tipperary parents like everyone else are under alot of pressure to provide the money to support their children’s education. Often accommodation costs in big cities are expensive up to €100 a week. In Thurles and Clonmel rentals are €55 a week on average .
7. Quality of courses and CAO points
I am often asked about comparing CAO cut off points in TI with larger colleges. People say to me, if the points are lower in TI doesn’t this mean that the quality of the course is inferior? My answer is – Not at all.
All the TI courses are independently validated by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) ,the very same body that oversees the courses of all the other Institutes of Technology. And in fact you can widen that comparison to University degrees as exactly the same standards apply.
And something else about CAO points. Points are set based on the number of applications and the number of places available. Naturally large urban centres like Dublin and Cork are going to have higher points because more people live there and apply but the points set in themselves say nothing about the usefulness of the course or how much the students enjoy it or whether they get jobs afterwards.
8. To further underpin the quality point, in June this year the Government approved the merger of Tipperary Institute (TI) with Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT). This development guarantees the stability and growth of higher education in Tipperary in the years to come and eliminates any doubts raised in 2009 about the Tipperary Campuses future. Students who register in TI in September 2010 can now be fully confident of an LIT backed education and qualification when they have successfully completed their studies
Conclusion
In summary then my advice is to decide what you really would like to do. Research* the courses that best suit your strengths and aptitude and then go for that and don’t let the points worry you too much.
*Research that carefully – go and talk to the college and the current and past students and find out all you can.
Finally
I very much look forward to some of you doing that research in Tipperary Institute. We can be contacted at 0504-28000, Website www.tippinst.ie
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