Course Focus: B Sc in airgeadas, riomhaireach t agus fiontraiocht i DCU

One of the newest degree courses to come on stream combines finance, computing and enterprise. It's this combination of subjects rather than the fact that DCU's B Sc in finance, computing and enterprise is available through the medium of Irish only that attracts students.

The four-year course was introduced almost four years ago and the first 16 students are expected to graduate this year. Then the entrepreneurial world will be their oyster.

Emer Ni Iarnain (21) is a fourth-year from An Ceathru Rua, Co Galway. She went to the local all-Irish Scoil Chuimsitheach an Cheathru Rua. "I was always interested in finance," she says. "The fact that the course had this entrepreneurial part appealed to me. I'm very interested in setting up my own business.

"I had no fears about doing it. But that's what this course needs - people who are not afraid of not succeeding . . . Bheadh se aisteach domsa dul ar cholaiste tri Bhearla. Ach ma ta se i nGaeilge ta rud breise ann, ta nascadh ann idir na daoine ata a dheanamh. Ta rud eigin ann a nascann gach duine le cheile."

An tOllamh Fionnbarra O Brolchain, professor of financing in DCU, is delighted that there are only about 150 applicants each year to this all-Irish course. "You're more likely to attract risk-takers, individuals," he says. "Employers want people who can think. They want self-starters, who have much more flexibility and adaptability."

Generally, he explains, students carry on from second level to third level in the same direction, studying, passing their exams and getting a job - "it's a piece of cake," he says. "The same thinking continues into third-level, you get fed the information, you pass your exams and you get a job. It's a piece of cake.

"They tend to be in boxes. They do language degrees, engineering, computing. We were looking for something that would draw in the risk-takers. We're focusing on business and finance but we want students who can move from one sector to another." By doing it through Irish, that cross-discipline approach is easier. Another advantage, he says, is smaller classes.

O Brolchain says that they're looking for students who have "a sense of who they are, who have confidence and self-esteem and a sense of their own identity and an understanding of the historical context out of which they have evolved. They have the technical skills and something that is not measured by the market place. It's a sense of their own identity, their self-respect and confidence that is much more likely to lead to an entrepreneurial spirit."

Irish is not a barrier to those who want to study these subjects. Criostai Mac Iomhaire, who went to Belvedere College, Dublin, is in fourth year. He intends to go into the computer end of things. He was not daunted by the fact that the course would be completely through Irish: "Nior smaoinigh me ar sin. Labhair me le Fionnbarra. Chuaigh se i bhfeidhm orm."

Terry O'Laoghaire (20), in second year, is from Galway city. She went to school at Colaiste Iognaid, studying and learning through English. "Roghnaigh me e mar gheall ar na habhair, agus thaithin se liom go raibh se i nGaeilge. Bhi an speis agam sa riomhaireacht agus ta beim mor ar chumarsaid ann chomh maith.

EACH YEAR students have worked with companies throughout Ireland, the United States, France and Austria during the summer. They have got sixto eight-month job placements also. "All the courses are totally relevant to the real world," says O'Laoghaire. Her experience in the workplace has already proved beneficial and rewarding. "It was invaluable experience," she says.

Another second-year, Eoin O Ceallachain (20) from Glasnevin, Dublin, went to Scoil Chaitriona, an all-Irish school. He chose the course because of its subject line-up, rather than because it was delivered through Irish. "I was thinking of international commerce with a language in UCD," he says.

"I liked the idea of having business with a language. I liked computers as well. It was the combination that was the primary reason I choose this course. It suited me. Choosing it was a worry because it wasn't established and it didn't have a track record. The other courses have been there for a long time. But I felt that the combination suited me."

The course includes theoretical and applied knowledge of business management in a European context; principles and applications of information technology; French, German or Spanish; communications skills and humanities and enterprise development. Only 15 to 20 students are accepted on to the programme each year.

There are some special requirements - a higher D or ordinary B in maths; a higher C or ordinary A in Irish and a higher D or ordinary B in French, Spanish or German.