DR CATHAL BRUGHA does not guarantee jobs for all the students signing up for UCD's Master's programme in management science (MSS), but as programme director for the last number of years he can point to the programme's success in producing highly employable graduates whose skills are in growing demand as the boom in the electronics and IT sectors continues.

UCD has been running the MMS programme since 1978 and there are roughly 20 places available on this full time, one year course which runs from September to September. Prospective students are likely to have a background in maths, science, engineering, business studies or computer science and applications are welcome from new graduates and those in employment.

Until recently, the course was ESF funded. But this is no longer the case and the course fee is now £3,000.

The course is broken into three sections with taught courses running from September to December and January to May followed by a major project between June and September which is normally based on solving a "live" management science problem within a company or other professional organisation.

"We try to encourage students to tackle fairly meaty problems which an organisation may have had difficulties with for some reason," says Brugha.

"Suitable projects typically have a resource orientation which will challenge the students' mathematical, systems management and computer abilities and they usually work in pairs to develop an appropriate solution. We have close links with the corporate sector and we tend to work more with indigenous companies because overseas companies often send difficult problems `home' to be solved," he says.

Over the years MSS students have tackled problems such as airline yield management for Aer Lingus, cash management for AIB Bank, expert systems for St James' Hospital, Dublin and vehicle scheduling for Golden Vale Foods.

"With a qualification like the MSS, students with a technical background can go down the management route sooner rather than later," says Cathal Brugha.

"The course equips them to work in almost any sector and our graduates have ended up with careers in everything from software design to management consultancy, systems analysis, logistics management and operations research. Normally, technically qualified people such as engineers will spend a number of years as engineers before moving towards a career in management, but this course gives them the skills to move more immediately into management oriented positions."

DUBLINER Gavin Costello is a business studies graduate who also holds a Master's in accountancy. Having worked for a year, he studied for the MSS last year and he is now employed as a software engineer with the UK based software development company, JBA Software.

"At the end of the Master's in accountancy I decided that it was just not me so I spent a year working and deciding what to do next," he says. "I had studied management science as part of my degree and I really liked working with computers so I decided to do the MSS and see where that would lead me."

Costello graduated at the top of the MSS class and his project involved developing a computer programme for the Revenue Commissioners.

"The course was a lot of hard work but you set your own pace and I had the opportunity to work on some really good projects. Ideally, I'd like to end up in a job where I was developing software specifically for clients needs," he says.

Sinead Corish graduated with a first class honours in civil engineering and is currently in the throes of the MSS programme.

"I decided to do engineering when I left school because I particularly enjoyed maths and science subjects," she says. "But while I enjoyed the engineering course very much, I knew by the time I graduated that I didn't want to be an engineer. Engineering is a very good, basic degree. It is broadly based and it develops one's logical thinking and problem solving skills, but I really enjoyed working with computers and I felt that I would like to go more down the route.

"The course is quite demanding as there is a lot of project work. But we have had the opportunity to work with `real' problems which has been very interesting and there is a good balance between the theoretical and practical aspects of the course. I could have opted for a post graduate course which was more business related, but my real interest is in technology and the MSS is particularly strong in this respect," she says.

Corish already has a job lined up with a Dublin based management consultancy for when she leaves UCD and she says the fact that she was doing the MSS was seen as a plus by prospective employers.

"All of us doing the course who wanted jobs have jobs for September and indeed we had a few different offers which was very nice," she says.