THE postgraduate sector is a growth area within education. A growing number of these courses are also at the cutting edge of change in the workplace. There is an increasing number of courses on offer to graduate students who want to specialise and do research in particular areas.

Professor Joyce O'Connor, president of the National College of Industrial Relations, says that the really important developments in post graduate studies' from the college's perspective is in human resource management and in industrial relations.

She explains that the work being done in these areas at both masters and PhD level includes studies into change and restructuring in the labour market other vital studies "look at unemployment and entrepreneurship, at the question of whether an entrepreneur is born or made, and at the impact of training initiatives on this area.

Muireann Ni Dhuigneain, careers and appointments officer at Dublin city University, that the college's postgraduate programme is "very wide and expanding all the time."

One of the newer courses at DCU is the MSc in science communication, a joint venture between Queen's and DCU, which, says Muireann Ni Dhuigneain, is meeting a need that hasn't been there before.

The MBS in accounting at DCU, which combines an academic qualification with a professional grade, is a course that is "continuing to grow" and is also proving very attractive.

The total number of graduate students currently attending Trinity College Dublin is over 2,100. Professor George Sevastopulo, dean of graduate studies at TCD, says that the number of people going on to do postgraduate work is on the increase in both research based degrees and taught courses. "We are seeing an expansion in taught programmes, particularly in the area of health science," he says.

In October, Trinity College will launch a postgraduate course in molecular medicine. Professor Sevastopulo describes the technical end of medicine as well as other areas such as health care management, as "the very big areas of expansion" at the moment.

There has also been a big expansion in some of the arts/humanities areas - such as postgraduate courses in creative writing and Irish theatre studies.

Another new development, "a real trail blazer," he says, is the PhD programme in political science.

In Dublin City University, the postgraduate population represents about one fifth of the total student body. There are over 1,000 students in postgraduate courses - 355 doing research studies, and over 700 on taught programmes.

One unusual course, as Dr Alan Titley, head of the Irish Department at St Patrick's College in Drumcondra, points out, is the MA in translation studies, which is available at DCU. The Irish option within this course is taught at St Patrick's College. "This could prove very useful and even employment friendly with developments in Teilifis na Gaeilge and elsewhere," says Dr Titley.

UCD's master's programme in management science is aimed at graduates with strong mathematical abilities and an interest in computer applications. This programme has been running since 1978, and there are roughly 20 places available on this one year course, which runs from September to September.

There are over 300 graduate students within the Dublin Institute of Technology at the moment. Dr Mathew Hussey, director of the faculty of science, points out that a great deal of postgraduate courses are concerned with retraining or redirecting graduate students into a new discipline. ,"Really it's trying to match people to actual jobs out there," he says. He points to the fact that the DIT's masters course in business marketing takes people with an honours degree in a range of areas.

Another course which has similar "conversion" thrust is the masters course in environmental management in Bolton Street DIT. Information technology, (IT), is another big area which is attracting a lot of interest. A new trend in postgraduate studies is the high level of international co operation between EU member states. One masters course in interactive multimedia involves the co operation of six different European countries.

Eight new postgraduate courses will come on stream this coming academic year at the Dublin Institute of Technology. This will bring the total to 15.

Courses approved by the NCEA in third level colleges also include a number of pivotal programmes which are on offer within many of the regional technical colleges around the country. The master's degree course in environmental protection at Sligo RTC is designed to provide graduates in industry and State bodies with advanced education and training in environmental management.

Waterford RTC has an MSc course in European construction management which aims to educate managers for the EU construction industries.

The more specialist interests are also being catered for. All Hallows College in Dublin has an MA in pastoral leadership, which aims to develop potential for pastoral leadership at an advanced level, through human and spiritual growth, whilst the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy has an MA in spirituality.