COUNTDOWN TO COLLEGE: Beginning today, Brian Mooneyguides you through the college options available to you in this year's CAO process. This column will continue until the February 1st CAO deadline.
What will I be studying if I choose a business programme?
Business courses begin with a general foundation first year, involving five to seven subjects, in management, accounting, economics, information technology, statistics, marketing and communications.
Applicants sometimes select a business course specialising in marketing or human resource management, thinking they will not have to study accounting or economics, but this is not the case. Management is a key subject in all programmes.
Do I need to be good at maths?
Most business programmes have core courses in accounting, economics and statistics. The maths entry requirement varies from D3 on the ordinary paper for some courses to C3 at higher level for more maths-based courses such as actuarial studies.
You do not need to be a mathematical genius for most, but if you struggle with maths on the ordinary-level paper, perhaps a business degree is not the appropriate choice.
General business courses
These are broad-based business courses, such as BESS (TR081) in Trinity; business and management (DT 365) in DIT and NUI Maynooth (MH404); business studies in UL (LM050) and DCU (DC111); and general business degrees in UCD (DN015), UCC (CK201), NUI Galway (GY201) and at ITs in Athlone, Blanchardstown, Sligo, Tipperary and Waterford.
NCI have launched a new general business degree in 2009.
Specialist programmes.
(1) Accounting: UCC, NUI Galway, Galway-Mayo, Sligo, Cork, Carlow, Tallaght, Waterford Athlone ITs.
(2) Accounting Finance: NUIM, DCU, DIT, DBS, Griffith, American, Dundalk Tipperary IT’s.
(3) Finance: NUIM, UCC Tallaght IT.
(4) Business and Law: Trinity, UCD, NUIM, Carlow IT, DBS Griffith.
(5) Human Resource Management: NCI Carlow IT.
(6) Retail and Services Management Transport and Logistics: DIT.
(7) Actuarial Studies: UCD and DCU.
(8) Finance Venture Management, Business Accounting: NUIM
(9) Law Accounting, International Insurance Europe Studies: UL.
(10) Economics and Finance: UCD and NUIM.
(11) Equine Business: NUIM
(12) Quantitative Finance Innovation and Technology: DCU
(13) Marketing: DIT, Carlow Cork, Dundalk, Waterford Tallaght ITs, Griffith DBS.
(14) Business and Computing: Trinity
(15) Economics: Trinity and UCD
Language and Business Degrees
If you select the Bachelor of Commerce (International) in UCD with a language, (DN016 German, DN017 French, DN018 Spanish, or DN019 Italian), or any of UCC’s Bachelor of Commerce European programmes, you will take similar literature, culture and language elements as taught on a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Alternatively, if you select language and business degree programmes at DCU, DIT or UL, the main language emphasis will be on the spoken and written language, business vocabulary and business culture.
Again, check the details of your preferred course. Note the language entry requirement. In most cases it is a minimum of C3 at higher level.
Studying Business Abroad.
The Confucius Institute of UCD offers language and cultural studies as part of the Bachelor of Commerce international with Chinese studies (DN013).
DIT (DT565) and UCC (CK211) offer Chinese and International Business. DCU and Sligo IT are introducing International Business and Chinese in 2009. These programmes include a year in a partner university/business school in China.
TCD offers business studies with Polish (TR089), reflecting the growing links between the two countries.
Work Placements and Erasmus Exchange Programmes.
In an Erasmus exchange, you attend part of your course – usually in year three – in a college in the European country of your main foreign language choice.
DIT has pioneered English- language Erasmus on its general business programme and in its marketing degree. It places students in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France and Germany in institutions where English is the language of instruction.
Many colleges have developed exchange links with the US and Canada. UCD, DIT and DCU offer European business “transatlantic studies” programmes and UCD also offers the option to gain credit for working in the community in Ireland “service learning”.
Normally there are no tuition fees involved in Erasmus programmes, and participants receive a grant of €200 per month towards their living costs.
Private College Options.
Honours business degrees in State-funded colleges normally require applicants to have a points score in the mid to low four hundreds. This has created a vibrant market for private fee paying colleges, who offer the full range of business programmes at far lower points requirements, many of them listed above.
Mature and non-CAO options
If you are over 23 and wish to consider studying business, UCD offers a two-year, full-time course diploma programme “foundations of business”, successful completion of which will give entry to year two of their Bachelor of Commerce Degree. Finally, UCD also offers the non-CAO Bachelor in Financial Services with the Institute of Bankers.
Tomorrow:Arts degree programmes
