The links which bind the eight border schools together are forged in two dimensions - the real and the virtual. Video-conferencing, the Internet, email, the telephone and old-fashioned face-to-face communications are all employed in the imaginative project.

Participants hail from remote rural areas in Cavan, Leitrim, Fermanagh and Tyrone. The placenames could have been devised for Van Morrison's lyrical shout - Bawnboy, Belturbet, Carrigallen, Drumshambo, Lisnaskea, Kesh, Roslea and Plumbridge.

All eight second-level schools have installed ISDN lines which provide desktop videoconference facilities, multiple Internet and email access. Funded by the EU Peace and Reconciliation Project, the partners in Cross Connect are Counties Cavan and Leitrim Vocational Education Committees, the Western Education and Library Board based in Omagh and staff from the University of Ulster's informatics faculty in Magee College.

The project's most recent venture was a two-day careers challenge in the University of Ulster. While 70 students and teachers travelled to the Magee campus in Derry, many participating experts attended in a variety of virtual modes. The conference was addressed, through a three-way teleconference link, by the Republic's Minister for Education and Science and by Northern Ireland's chief inspector for the Department of Education. Speaking from his Cork constituency, a virtually bilocated Minister Micheal Martin urged students to "believe in yourselves and in your future because Ireland is among the European leaders in the field of education technology."

Back on terra firm in Magee, the Careers Challenge began with the drawing up of teams, mingling students from the various schools. Each team had to prepare a career development plan which they would present orally, using PC-based equipment.

After some team-building exercises on day one, the students visited the North West Higher Education Careers Fair to collect information and advice before turning to the serious business of shopping and socialising.

Throughout the conference students had access to a variety of experts on different careers. Interactive video links brought the world of banking, education management, sports, leisure and hotel and tourism to the students. Others were linked by email and phone.

Some experts eschewed the virtual world to appear in person to speak about careers in nursing, retail management and teaching. The Irish Times offered careers advice by email and phone.

The project was guided by the lofty EU vision statement: "As the new millennium approaches, it is recognised that society is moving from an industrial to an information base. Many recent EU initiatives herald the move to an information society with its concomitant implications for education provision."

Students took a more prosaic view. Terry McGeough, from Roslea, was somewhat bemused at being asked to toss a teddy in the air while shouting out his name and the name of the intended recipient. However, once his embarrassment subsided he quite enjoyed the team-building exercises.

The overall conference also met with his approval. "It's good, so it is. It's good craic . . . meeting loads of different people, learning about careers." Terry hopes to be a PE teacher and the conference helped him identify courses in Jordanstown and Liverpool.

Jill Irwin of Lisnaskea High School was equally enthusiastic: "It's very good, meeting up with new people, and making new friends." A budding primary teacher, Jill researched a variety of colleges and universities but is still undecided.

After a thorough interrogation of this reporter about journalism, Patrick McKenna of Drumshambo Vocational School also declared the conference a success. Another focused student, Sinead McGoldrick, a fifth-year student at St Mogue's College, Bawnboy, has her sights set on criminal law. UCD or QUB would fit the bill, she reckons.

While students found lots of useful information on careers, courses and colleges, the project had a wider brief. The Cross Connect co-ordinator, Sarah Quilty, explains that anticipated benefits include enhanced curriculum opportunities, enhanced levels of information literacy as well as staff development in information and communication technologies. "It's expected that the benefits will accrue to both staff, pupils and the wider community," she adds.

Staff involved in Cross Connect has been involved in other interactive distance initiatives such as teaching sessions via ISDN links to the Magee Campus from schools in Castlederg. "We believe education will become a co-operative process between providers at all levels," says Quilty. "We hope to develop a real partnership across the border between our two systems."

Schools taking part in the Cross Connect Careers Challenge were:

St Mogue's College, Bawnboy, Co Cavan;

St Bricin's Vocational School, Belturbet, Co Cavan;

Carrigallen Vocational School, Co Leitrim;

Drumshambo Vocational School, Co Leitrim;

Duke of Westminster Higher School, Kesh, Co Fermanagh;

Lisnaskea High School, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh;

St Joseph's High School, Plumbridge, Co Tyrone;

St Eugene's College, Roslea, Co Fermanagh.