Seven students from disadvantaged areas of south Dublin are this autumn beginning third-level college courses, with the help of sponsorship from the Schools Business Partnership. The partnership is a scheme initiated in 1996 by the South Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

Six of the students are from second-level schools in the areas of Clondalkin, Tallaght and what's known as KWCD (Kimmage/ Walkinstown/Crumlin/Drimnagh), areas which were not involved in the scheme before.

One of the seven replaces a student who dropped out of last year's cohort of 13 sponsored students from schools already in the scheme.

"We pay them just £600 a year as a grant and we ask them not to work in places like pubs and supermarkets between Monday and Thursday during term time," explains David Magill, the co-ordinator of the scheme.

"The idea is to give them this funding so that they don't have to work. We hear of the huge drop-outs from first year in college because students are not studying when they have to work late at night in pubs to support themselves while at college.

"The students must meet the two basic criteria of need and merit. They are students who would come from a home with no tradition of third-level education. Most of the families are disadvantaged. "But they are selected on merit and we present a short list from each school to the companies which sponsor them."

School principals, career-guidance teachers and home/school liaison teachers run the scheme and make the selections with the South Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

"They start before Christmas with the pupils in sixth year and ask them if they would like to compete for the sponsorship. Four or five are selected from each school and these names are presented to the sponsors. "We don't try to influence in any way what course the students select, but the sponsors look for a relationship between what the student is going to study and the business in which the sponsor is involved," he says.

This year's sponsors are Tallaght and Districts Credit Union, Townlink Construction Ltd, Deepark Ltd, Robert Roberts Ltd, Project Management Group, Cuisine de France and Lekker Quality Food Ltd.

The third-level partnership scheme began in 1996 with just seven schools involved.

During this academic year, the number will increase to 24, and seven more scholarships will be added in September of next year. Students who qualify for entry to this sponsorship scheme will be students who are entitled to maintenance grants while attending college. There's no danger of these vital funds being withdrawn: the scheme will apply every year for the duration of a student's years at college.