There is life outside the CAO. The further education or Post-Leaving Certificate sector has to be one of the great education success stories. Eleven years ago, there were 12,414 enrolments in PLC courses. Last year the figure had almost doubled, with 24,393 enrolments.
This year there will be about 24,900 PLC places, of which some 20,000 will be on offer to first-year entrants.
PLC courses are delivered by more than 220 schools and colleges throughout the State, with the bulk of provision in vocational colleges. In all, there are more than 1,000 courses to choose from in over 60 disciplines. There is no central applications system so you should contact your local VEC or PLC college.
The courses are full time and are usually of one year's duration, including general education, technical knowledge and work experience. There are no tuition fees and eligible students are paid maintenance grants.
Places are not allocated on the basis of points. Applicants should be of Leaving Cert standard. Leaving Cert Applied students are accepted on the majority of PLCs. Some colleges interview applicants and there may be other assessments such as portfolios for art and design courses.
The usual qualification obtained by PLC students is a National Council for Vocational Awards (NCVA) Level 2, which is awarded after students successfully complete eight modules. This usually takes one year.
Some courses are longer and awards vary. For instance, the British Higher National Diploma (HND) courses offered by colleges such as Ballyfermot College of Further Education and Colaiste Dhulaigh are recognised as the equivalent of a National Council for Educational Awards national certificate.
Many of the larger colleges have links with UK universities so you can continue your studies to degree level.
Some qualifications are offered by professional bodies. There is also an NCVA level 3, usually awarded after two years of study. The applied languages and information technology (international teleservices) course falls into this category. This course, which is offered in 39 colleges, includes a 17-week placement in France, Germany, Spain or Italy. A grant of up to £2,000 is available to help with this placement. It covers 75 per cent of travel costs up to a maximum of £300 and £100 a week.
There is a scheme which links certain NCVA level 2 qualifications with national certificate and diploma courses in the institutes of technology. Some 2,000 first-year places are offered through this scheme. These places are reserved and are not open to school-leavers. If you're hoping to advance from NCVA to third level, you should make sure the course is linked and that it includes any specified modules.
A survey of 1996/97 graduates shows that of those who completed a PLC course, 64 per cent gained employment.
Thirty six per cent went on to further training or education, with 25 per cent in third-level education. There is some overlap between those employed and those continuing their studies. A further 8.5 per cent of the 2,114 respondents were unemployed. The dropout rate is high, at close to 23 per cent. This is due, in part, to students taking employment offers during their work experience and not returning to college.
As with all courses, you should research what subjects are on offer, and where graduates find employment. Make sure you are really interested in the course before you enrol.
Dun Laoghaire College of Further Education has notified College 2000 that there is a small number of vacancies on most of its courses, including auctioneering, business, marketing and interior design. The college's popular information technology courses are almost full.
If you are interested in any of the courses, you should apply immediately (tel. (01) 280 0385; e-mail info@scd.ie; college website: www.scd.ie). Access may be based on interview or minimum educational requirements. A portfolio is required for the interior design course.
New courses this year include a graduate diploma in multimedia computing, a graduate diploma in recruitment, and a course in landscape architecture.
UK college update
The latest figures released by the UK central applications body, UCAS, show that 2,265 students from the Republic of Ireland have accepted places in UK colleges. This is a decrease of 226 on the same date (August 30th) last year.
In all, 1,049 students have accepted places in England, 633 are taking up place in Northern Ireland, 245 in Wales, and 338 in Scotland.
The total number of people accepting places on higher education courses is 285,438, an increase of 4,314 on last year. There are tuition fees (maximum £1,050 sterling per annum) charged in colleges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
There still large numbers of vacant places available through the clearing process. If you wish to take up a course through clearing you can ring the UCAS helpline 0044 (1242) 227788 to request a clearing entry form. The UCAS Website has an interactive course search facility at www.ucas.com. Listings of courses with vacancies will also be published in the London In- dependent on September 5th and 14th.
Confirmation of acceptance of offer:
The CAO reminds applicants that if they accepted a first-round offer, they will receive confirmation within three working days of the reply date of August 30th. If you do not get a confirmation notice then you should contact the CAO immediately.
Second-round offers will be posted on Monday, September 4th and the cut-off points will be published in a special supplement with The Irish Times on September 5th.
Fees and UCD:
There is still some confusion about fee payments. The initial instructions from the CAO were to send a bank draft or postal order for £30 with your CAO acceptance if you were accepting a place in the universities or the DIT. This was then superseded by an announcement that there was no need to pay the £30.
UCD advises that if you have accepted an offer of a place at the college, it will post you a bank giro form in the next few days. You should wait for this form before making a payment.
Students with grants should pay £50 only; those without grants must pay £342. If you paid £30 to the CAO already you can deduct this from the total.
There will be a live Webcast on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., on the day following the receipt of second-round offers and the publication of cut-off points. I will put your questions to College 2000 helpline counsellor Vivian Cassells.
Queries can be emailed to education@irish-times.ie