It can be a bit of an ordeal - wire-cage trolleys gnashing and grinding in gleaming ranks . . . anodyne tannoy monologues . . . mewling children leading harried parents. In full, frenzied, flow a bustling suburban supermarket suggests a bizarre marriage of cattle stampede, creche and impromptu pitch invasion. And who would willingly submit themselves to all of that?

"The image of the harried store manager strutting the shop floor doesn't accurately reflect the modern retail environment," counters Pat O'Neil, head of the DIT school of retail and services management and driving force behind the college's new degree course in retail management. "This is now an extremely sophisticated business - one in which a fluency in email or a foreign language can be as important as a flair for marshalling staff."

DIT identified the need for a degree level qualification in retailing - the first to be offered in Ireland - after an increase in demand for its diploma and cert courses and a proliferation of graduate recruitment schemes operated by major chains such as Marks and Spencer and HMV.

The four-year BSc programme was designed in consultation with high street heavy hitters, including Dunnes Stores, Tesco and Superquinn. The college continues to maintain close links with the industry and is committed to adapting the syllabus to keep pace with new trends in the marketplace.

The first class of 43 students started the course at DIT's mini-campus in Mountjoy Square last September. There are plans to bring a one-year master's degree and a night-time programme on stream in the near future, while cert and diploma graduates will have an opportunity to progress to the BSc. Last year's CAO cut-off points were 355, but this is expected to rise with the profile of the degree.

A major emphasis is placed on diversity. The course is designed to equip students for entry into sectors as varied as banking, insurance and tourism to which the term "retailing" is increasingly applicable. There is, explains O'Neil, a growing demand among such companies for employees of graduate calibre to lead its retail teams.

He describes the programme as "a fresh and vibrant" mix of the scholarly and the practical. Certainly, academic standards are rigorous. Students must complete a 12,000-word project in final year and must take either French or German every semester, recognition, says O'Neil, of the trend towards globalisation.

Work experience forms a core element. In a break with convention, the programme comprises two distinct job placements. The initial, a 10-week toe-in-the-water introduction to the cut and thrust of retailing follows first-year exams. A more formidable eight-month placement straddles the end of year two and the beginning of a truncated third year.

While most students taking the degree are school-leavers, some have experienced first hand the changing face of retailing. Dubliner Bill O'Donovan, the sole mature student in the class, came to DIT after a 20-year career as a men's outfitter. In those two decades he witnessed the gradual atrophying of the traditional store-room-to-boardroom career path. Retail management is now an exact science, one in which employees trained to degree level are well placed to excel, he says.

`The scenario has changed out of all recognition since the time I went in. The days of people coming in off the street and working their way up are all but over," says O'Donovan.

Heather Boland from Ballinteer, Co Dublin, describes the course as "a revelation." She contrasts the intimate atmosphere of Mountjoy Square with the "faceless formality" of her two years at UCD.

"We're like a big family here," she says. "Because the class is so small the lecturers know us all. You get the feeling that they have tailored things to our needs."

Boland shares her colleague's views on the changing face of retailing. A 12-month sabbatical at a furnishing and fixtures shop in Dublin convinced her that the in-store corporate ladder could only be scaled after gaining a relevant qualification. The DIT course will allow her to rise through one of the "fast-track" graduate recruitment schemes set up by major retailers, she says.