Course focus: Industrial biology degree, Carlow IT

Flames from the Bunsen burners flicker quietly. The fourth-year students, heads bent, are busy making notes. They move silently between the benches in their white lab coats, blending in with the surroundings and the grey sky outside. They are completely absorbed. Serious work is under way. Glenda Corcoran (21) from Kildare town, came to this degree year from DIT Cathal Brugha Street. She graduated last year with a diploma in health care technology and is delighted with the chance to continue her studies in industrial biology. For her, like the others 31 students in fourth year, the lab has become her base, the focus of her life.

A stint in the workplace gave her an insight into work in a quality assurance department in a large pharmaceutical company - her time with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, in Newbridge, Co Kildare, was part of her diploma studies. The experience was of great benefit, she says. "I was a quality assurance inspector there."

Vivian Foley (22) from Bagnelstown, Co Carlow, started his third-level studies in Carlow IT doing a national certificate in science. Today he is in fourth year studying for a degree. "I just took it year by year," he says, looking back at his developing interest in industrial biology. "I never thought I'd get this far to be honest. It's so interesting to be working with different micro-organisms."

Looking back, Foley says that in third-year diploma students had to do a project in pairs. It was a good learning experience. He has yet to do some work experience. After he graduates he plans to take a year off and then he wants to do further studies in food microbiology.

David Dunne (22) from Dundalk, Co Louth, completed a diploma in food science at Dundalk IT. "I heard this was a good degree," he says, "that there were good lecturers and it's respected in the industry."

He took a year off to make some money before he came to Carlow IT, working in one of the labs at the Great Northern Brewery. "It's very helpful to see how things work in industry," he says. "You get used to what's required of you." As Dr David Dowling, course director, explains, "a fairly high proportion of people transfer from other institutes of technology" to the degree year. Between 60 and 70 per cent of students come from Carlow IT.

The degree course is now in its sixth year. Students of industrial biology cover biotechnology, genetic engineering, agri-food and pharmaceutical processes.

Since last September, the college has also offered a BSc in industrial environmental science, which was developed in response to the growing demands of environmental regulation at local, national and international levels. On average almost one-quarter of all graduates on the degree course each year carry on to do postgraduate work.

Dr Brigid O'Regan, acting head of the applied biology and chemistry department, says students decide during their first year whether they want to go into applied chemistry or applied biology. From there, their pathway leads to a choice in Carlow IT between the two degrees - industrial biology or industrial environmental science.

Graduates of the industrial biology degree course go on to be quality supervisors, quality managers and food micro-biologists. These jobs are in process development and management, industrial research and development and laboratory management.

O'Regan cites Brendan Flanagan, a graduate of the BSc in industrial biology, who is head brewer with the recently set up Carlow Brewery, a microbrewery.

Many students who go on work experience are later offered jobs by the companies. A number of the companies are in the pharmaceutical area, says O'Regan. "The pharmaceutical industry is very stable and it's a nice, clean environment."

Most cert, diploma and degree students get their first job through a network that now exists between employers and the lecturing staff. What makes them desirable to companies, according to Dr Ger Murphy, a lecturer in microbiology, is that "they can function in the lab from day one, and they need people to be able to go out and function like that. They arrive and they are ready to go.