The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, has announced the creation of 690 new places on two-year Post Leaving Certificate courses in international teleservices. For the first time in the PLC sector, these courses will provide grant-aided places to study abroad for up to six months.
International teleservices, which involve people in Ireland dealing on the telephone with everything from ticket reservations to complex computer problems around the world, is one of the fastest-growing employment sectors in the Republic.
The number working in the sector is expected to increase from 4,000 now to 10,000 in the next three years.
A substantial proportion of these new jobs will require fluency in European languages, an area in which Irish students have traditionally been weak.
The 690 places announced yesterday will be in 20 Post Leaving Certificate colleges, most of them VEC and community colleges, ranging from 60 places in Cork College of Commerce to do teleservices with French, German, Italian and Spanish, to 20 places in Letterkenny Vocational School to do teleservices with German.
A key and attractive element of the courses will be the inclusion of an overseas placement of up to six months in a student's chosen teleservice language. At the same time a student grant scheme, the first in the PLC sector, will be introduced to help students on these overseas placements.
It will cover essential insurance costs, 75 per cent of the APEX air fare and a grant of £100 a week to wards living expenses while abroad. These will be subject to a maximum of £300 for the air fare and £1,700 per student for living expenses.
The teleservices courses are aimed at school-leavers, or those preparing to return to work, who have a minimum of a grade B in pass level English and one continental language in the Leaving Certificate or equivalent. The courses, which begin next month, will be certified by the National Council for Vocational Awards.
Since there is no centralised applications system for the PLC sector equivalent to the Central Applications Office, the Department of Education is putting on a free helpline (phone 1-800800 900) to provide further information on the courses.
It will operate from August 19th to 29th on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Mr Martin said yesterday the growing job market in teleservices was a prime example of both "the importance of mobility and new technology in job-creation opportunities in today's world" and of the need for the education system to respond quickly to new labour market needs as they arise.
Welcoming the Minister's initiative, the Irish Vocational Education Association general secretary, Mr Michael Moriarty, called for the establishment of an industry-education liaison board, with management representatives from both sectors, to "identify skills shortages long before they arise".
Meanwhile, University College Galway has announced that because of the heavy demand for engineers with knowledge of computer applications and software, it is bringing forward the introduction of its new BE degree in electronics and computer engineering from next year to next month.