EOIN RONAYNE, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, paints a bleak picture of job prospects (or lack of them) for aspiring journalists.

Of the 3,200 NUJ members in the Republic, 800 are freelance - and this trend is growing. New staff jobs are a rarity.

Meanwhile, the number of journalism courses continues to increase, so there are more graduates every year - and the amount of work available is not increasing at the same pace. The bottom line is that there just isn't enough work out there, Ronayne says.

Despite this, most schools of journalism say that their graduates are finding relevant work, and that there's always room for the very good people.

In the past, most journalists had no formal qualifications and they worked their way up through the ranks. Today, no formal qualifications are needed but, in practice, most new entrants have done a journalism course.

These courses are available at all levels, from Post Leaving Certificate to undergraduate to postgraduate. Journalism appears to exercise a powerful fascination for many students, so competition for most courses is very keen.

The advantage of opting for a postgraduate course is that you will have some specialist knowledge to offer from your undergraduate studies - and also, perhaps, a fall-back position should all else fail.

Many people think you need a degree in English or politics to go into journalism. This is not true: most postgraduate courses welcome applications from graduates of any discipline, from law to business, from history to science.

At undergraduate level, DIT's long-established journalism certificate comes to an end this year, with second-year students being offered a choice of leaving after the cert or staying on to do years three and four of the degree. All new entrants to the course will do the degree programme. The programme includes work experience at the end of year four.

The work experience element of journalism courses is important, as it allows students to make contacts and to build up a portfolio of work.

Also at undergraduate level, DCU offers a BA in journalism, which includes work experience. The first 25 students graduated last summer and will be surveyed this month as to how they have fared in the jobs market, says Muireann Ni Dhuigncain, DCU's careers officer.

At postgraduate level, DCU's MA in journalism offers graduates of any discipline the opportunity to pursue a one-year conversion course. Graduates of this course has traditionally fared relatively well in the employment market, with many finding work in the national media - though this is usually as a freelance or on contract initially.

This year, for the first time, DCU - in conjunction with Queen's University Belfast - offered an MSc in science communication. The aim of this programme is to train students to become science communicators in the news media, industry, government and public affairs, Ni Dhuigneain explains. Students spend a semester in QUB's outreach campus in Armagh and a semester in DCU.

UCG offers two postgraduate programmes, ard diploma i gcumarsaid fheidhmeach (see panel) and a higher diploma in advanced communications. Bernadette O'Sullivan, course director for the latter, says the course initially concentrated on the provincial press but now caters for all sectors - provincial, national, local and community-based media.