Mature students - who include everybody from people with primary level education trying to get on to a single course to people who want to get a university degree at night - are about to enter the spotlight. The Government is due to publish its White Paper on adult education in February or March of this year, with recommendations on creating all sorts of educational opportunities for an adult population which was often ill-served by the education system in the past.
That's the good news. The bad news is that this will not be likely to help you if you are planning on going back to education in the year 2000. You are still stuck with a system which, for example, provides everybody except part-time students with free university fees when, of necessity, the vast majority of mature students are part time, although change in this area is under consideration. It is a system that makes it difficult to build towards second and third-level qualifications on a gradual basis, through a system of credits and modular courses that has been standard, for example, in the US for generations; a system with no central guidance for mature students on the bewildering options available, or how one course might progress to another.
These are all issues tackled by the Government's Green Paper on Adult Education that will be addressed in the forthcoming White Paper. But as far as you're concerned, if you want to go back to school this autumn, you need to focus hard this month on what you want to do - for the deadline for applications for many courses is as soon as February 1st.
To qualify as a mature student you must be 23 on or before January 1st of the year you're applying, for courses that will mostly start nine months later, in the autumn. If you are seriously considering going to college full-time, you should arm yourself with The Department of Education and Science's Guide for Mature Students 2000, which provides comprehensive information about the entry requirements to full-time third-level undergraduate courses, as well as advice on financial help. The NCEA's (National Council for Educational Awards) publication Higher-Education Opportunities though NCEA-Approved Courses, What You'll need to Enter A Course As An Adult Learner is also useful.
The index at the back of the Guide for Mature Students gives you a quick guide to where you'll find a course that interests you, and the individual entry for each college tells you the basic entry requirements, whether or not there are quotas for mature students on the course, how to apply - and the deadline for doing so - and in most cases the name and telephone number of a contact in the college. The important point to note is the deadline - which for the majority of courses is the CAO deadline of February 1st. Mature students may be selected on different criteria to Leaving Cert students - once basic admission requirements for a course are satisfied, evidence of other achievements, and possibly an interview will determine whether you are offered a place.
There is a special section for mature students on the CAO form, and a space for you to list your work experience, interests, and motivation along with your educational details - your opportunity, in other words, to sell yourself, and at least merit an interview for a place (Be aware, though, that some third-level institutions interview on the basis of random selection).
Another option well worth considering is distance learning: Oscail, the National Distance Education Centre, now has 3,500 adults all over Ireland studying for diplomas and degrees at undergraduate and post-graduate level; BBC's Open University is also extremely popular with Irish students - it has more students than Oscail. The huge attraction of distance learning is that it enables mature students to study at their own pace, because it is presented in modules. The other is that there are no entry requirements for mature students - to enrol in Oscail's degree/diploma programme, what you have to do is a compulsory non-credit module of eight weeks duration which introduces students to the content of the course.
To get a BA degree through Oscail you must pass a total of 12 credit modules, studied between February and November over a number of years. The average study requirement is about eight hours per module per week, and you can choose whether to take one or four modules a year. Oscail is based in DCU in Dublin, but for your BA, you register with one of seven colleges around the country. You get a specialist tutor, course materials, one-day tutorials to attend in person every month or so, and regular access to your tutor by telephone, e-mail, or correspondence. Oscail's bachelor of science degrees, e.g. in information technology, and nursing, and its master's degrees, are awarded by DCU (Each module costs around £310). You have to apply to Oscail through the CAO system, and can get application forms from Oscail NDEC or CAO. Its e-mail address is secretary.ndec.ba@dcu.ie, and more information is available at http://www.dcu.ie.
All the above information relates to mature students going back to study at third-level. But there are many interesting courses available through VECs, and FAS, many "back to education" schemes like the VEC-administered VTOS (Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme) aimed at providing unemployed people with the chance to gain access to further education and training, and many community courses funded by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. There is a growing number of basic literacy courses, aimed at reducing the shockingly low level of literacy of 25 per cent of Ireland's adult population. The point is that whether you are a retired person wanting to pursue a life-long interest, an employee hoping to improve your career opportunities, a full-time mother in the home who wants to learn new skills, or a long-term unemployed person wanting to go back to education, there is something out there for you, even if there are financial and other hurdles to cross to get at them.
One important point to remember when looking into any course is to ask who validates it, and what you can do with the qualification - i.e., whether it can be used to progress to any other course of study. There are moves to make it compulsory for all course providers to give this information in writing, but right this minute, you have to find out for yourself.
Usefull references include: - AONTAS, the National Association of Adult Education - make an appointment, look at their library - The Access Officer in your local university/college of technology - Adult Education Organiser in your local VEC - they are also in charge of PLCs - Local FAS office - Your local library - it will have guides to adult education courses - Any school guidance counsellor - CAO: Tower House, Eglinton Street, Galway, tel 091-563318/563269/ - NCEA: 26 Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1, tel 01-8556526. - Oscail: Dublin City University, Dublin 9, tel 01-704548 - Open University: Holbrook House, Holles Street, Dublin 2, tel 01-678-5399 - AONTAS: 22 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, tel 01-4754121 - Department of Education and Science, Student Support Unit, Dublin 1, tel 01-8734700, or 050624386/24387/24383.
