Some 1,090 nurse-training places will be available on college-associated diploma courses this year. This is an increase on last year's 895 places and marks the end of the transition from the traditional apprenticeship-style training to the college-associated programme.
All nurse training will now follow the new diploma model, according to a statement issued by the Department of Health yesterday.
There will be 734 general nurse training places, 155 mental handicap nursing places and 201 psychiatric places on offer this year. The new programmes are operated by schools of nursing in association with third-level institutions. Students who complete the three-year programme will be awarded a diploma of nursing from the relevant third-level institution and will be eligible to register as nurses with An Bord Altranais.
Students interested in nurse training will be relieved to hear the competition for the 1998 intake of student nurses to the general nursing and psychiatric programmes will be advertised in February, starting on February 19th.
Applicants for these two programmes will sit a written assessment test (this is an enhanced version of last year's test) of about two to three hours duration on June 27th or June 30th. Those placed highest will be called to interview. The interviews will be held during the final week of July and the first two weeks of August.
The first round of offers of places will be made within one week of publication of the Leaving Cert results. So this should coincide with the first round of CAO offers and students therefore will be able to consider all their options simultaneously. The application and selection process will be handled by the Nursing Applications Centre, with assistance from the Local Appointments Commission.
The mental handicap nursing applications will be advertised in April and the application and selection process will handled by the Mental Handicap Nursing Applications Centre.
The Minister for Health and Children, Mr Cowen, noted that general nursing training continues to attract the most applicants and said he was disappointed at the lower level of interest in psychiatric and mental handicap nursing. In fact, only 91 of the 121 psychiatric places available last year were filled.
He said: "There seems to be a perception that psychiatric nurses will not be required because of the move away from the old mental health institutions." The Minister spoke of the continuing expansion of communitybased psychiatric care services and facilities and said this presented young people with an opportunity to be part of a branch of nursing which is undergoing exciting change.
"The £30 million development plan for the mental handicap services sector would enhance the career prospects of nurses and other professionals working with people with a mental handicap," he said.
The Nursing Applications Centre is located at the Office of Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners, Lower Grand Canal Street, Dublin 2. A telephone number will be available from February 19th. Guidance counsellors can expect batches of application forms and information booklets in advance of this date. This is a new and welcome development.
The much-discussed subject requirements for nurse training are the same as last year. Applicants must have the Leaving or equivalent in the following six subjects: Irish (not foundation level); English; maths (not foundation level); one other language; a lab science subject (chemistry, physics, biology physics and chemistry, agricultural science) not including home economics (social and scientific); one other subject which may include home economics (social and scientific) but may not include home economics (general).
There are also a number of precluded subject combinations.
Students must obtain a minimum of a grade C3 in higherlevel papers in any two of the categories listed above and a minimum of grade D3 in ordinary or higher-level papers in the other four subjects. Subjects and grades may be accumulated over two sittings of the Leaving.
An additional 10 per cent of the interview mark will be awarded to applicants who fulfil the Leaving Cert requirements in one sitting.
Social Worker
Students who want to become professional social workers will be heartened by the news that job prospects are now excellent. The need for social workers is expected to continue to remain high for the next few years.
Mr Robbie Gilligan, head of TCD's social work department, says it is very important to make an informed decision when it comes to choosing social work as a career. "If students enjoy voluntary work with people in need, it's likely that they will fit happily into social work," he says. But, if an interest in current affairs, working with people or social needs has not surfaced by the time it comes to filling out the CAO form, it may not be the course for you.
The route to becoming a social worker varies. TCD offers the only undergraduate programme open to school-leavers, which qualifies graduates as professional social workers. This fouryear course includes a substantial practical element. Points were high at 480* (* means random selection applied) last year.
UCC and UCD both offer three-year social science degrees and students must complete a master's programme to gain the professional social work qualification. Last year, students needed a minimum of 415* to secure a place on UCC's course and 425 for UCD's course.
Social work is an area which welcomes mature applicants more than most. Mr Gilligan says mature students bring their life experience to the course and their enthusiasm adds a lot.
Of the 100 first-year places on UCC's bachelor of social science, up to 40 places are earmarked for mature applicants. In TCD, eight to 10 of the 30 first-year places on the four-year social work degree are reserved for mature applicants while UCD reserves about 15 of its 150 first-year undergraduate places for mature students. UCC also has a bachelor in social work which is not open to school-leavers.
Both UCD and UCC offer transition diploma courses which are open to graduates of other disciplines. These programmes facilitate transition to master's programmes which allow students to qualify as professional social workers.
Area-Based Partnership At NCIR
The National College of Industrial Relations, Dublin, offers up to 10 per cent of places on its fulltime day courses to students who are living in a designated areabased partnership area. The family income must also be dependent on social welfare payments and students must meet the minimum NCEA entry requirements.
The courses are the BA in accounting and human resource management, the BA in European business studies and languages, and the national certificate in business studies (industrial relations/human resource management). There are separate CAO application codes for people applying under this scheme.
Add-on options: students who achieve a merit or distinction in the business studies cert may progress to year two of the BA in accounting and human resource management.
Telephone: NCIR at (01) 406 1501 for details of the designated areas.
CAO Closing Date
The closing date for receipt of application forms by the CAO is Sunday, February 1st, at 5.15 p.m. You can post your application up to and including Saturday, January 31st. Remember you must obtain proof of posting - don't just drop the envelope in a postbox. There is a certificate of posting at the back of the CAO handbook, which must be stamped by the post office.
The CAO office will be open on Saturday and will deal with last-minute queries.
For last-minute operators, you can go to Galway and put your application form in the CAO postbox, Tower House, Eglinton Street, on Sunday, February 1st. But a CAO spokesman warns that any forms put in the box on Monday morning will be treated as late applications and you will be charged the late fee of £36. Any restricted-application courses listed on forms received on Monday will not be accepted.
The final closing date for CAO applications is May 1st. You may apply up until this deadline, but you must pay the late fee and you cannot list any restricted-application courses.
The CAO operates a change-of-mind facility which allows you to change your choice of courses up until July 1st. There is no charge for this service and you may change your mind as often as you like. The only proviso is that you cannot introduce any restricted-application courses. If you apply to the CAO by the February 1st deadline, you will be automatically issued with a change-ofmind form in May.
Additional reporting by Catherine Foley