So the fuss is almost all over for 2013’s Leaving Cert students. I say nearly, because there is still the bevy of first- and second-round college offers to look forward to. Preliminary reports in the media have exhibited an almost obsessive tendency to cite numbers: students who sat Higher Maths, and the percentage of them […]
At a time when the calls for more ICT and science training in secondary schools grow louder by the day, some are now asking if it might be time to reflect on the nature of education and of true reform. One such voice made itself heard in the Irish Times during the week. Steven Lydon, […]
Migrant families living in Ireland will no longer have to pay the 10,000- to 12,000-euro fee that migrant students in Ireland have previously been asked to pay for their third-level education. The concession marks a significant point of progress in the campaign for equal access to education. In essence, the change means that migrant students […]
The CAO figures for first preference submissions have been released. These are typically a good indicator of the points requirements for courses when CAO offers are issued in late August. Growing in popularity Among the subject areas showing a growth in interest were business/commerce (up by 6.5 per cent), engineering/technology (up by 3.5 per cent), […]
It seems that up until now, not enough serious consideration has been paid to the the transition that post-primary students face as they head into higher education. Which seems a bit strange for a number of reasons. For one thing, the leap from primary to secondary school is a huge leap that marks a vital […]
It looks as though the long-mooted shake-up of the Leaving Cert points system may happen after all. According to Minister of Education Ruairi Quinn, the plan is to gradually phase-in changes from September 2014 so that the new system is in place for students sitting the Leaving Cert in 2017. These plans recently overcame […]
Though not the be-all-and-end-all measure of academic performance, the world university rankings from the Times Higher Education are taken very seriously by colleges, organisations and students around the world. Making an appearance on the list can greatly enhance a college’s international reputation and prospects. Thankfully, the latest list is not without Irish representation. The latest […]
Last Thursday (13 June) was the final day of Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology’s Graduate Exhibition. The art on display was of such extraordinary quality that several of the works captured the attention of Irish Times reviewer Aidan Dunne, who described the students’ work in today’s paper as ‘Inventive, ambitious, engaged and […]
According to the Higher Education Authority’s Chief Executive Tom Boland, this year’s crop of Leaving Certificate students may be the last to avail of the approximate equality between the number of higher education places that are available to them and the demand to fill those places. Speaking to the Irish Times, Mr Boland commented: […]
So you’ve been caught looking at Twitter feeds, Facebook updates and Pinterest trends on your smartphone in class. This means trouble, right? Actually, no, it doesn’t. Quite the opposite in fact – you were simply immersed in the topic, because you’re a student on a Digital Marketing/Media course. It may sound a bit strange, […]
According to the EU Skills Panorama, when it comes to skills imbalance, Ireland ranks joint third out of 26 countries surveyed. Naturally, this is a major cause for concern for many employers. IT jobs accounted for one-fifth of all jobs advertised last year. Programmers and software engineers are in as much demand now as those […]
Reform of the Leaving Cert was one of the key recommendations of a new report entitled ‘A 20/20 Vision for Education’. The report, which was drawn up by the Post-Primary Education Forum – a group that comprises teachers, parents and students – claims to place the concerns and needs of the student at the […]
