Making the Grade

Colleges and courses have always been prime targets for school leavers on the look-out for the next important step on the career ladder. But these recessionary times have also broadened their market to include people already on the dole, those who have been made redundant or who are unemployed. The spirit of independence that has impacted so positively on the music industry is also spreading out to other industries, and that prompts many to consider the option of being self-employed and self-reliant.

And there are also a lot of smart people who are in careers but who want to keep ahead of the competition, or who are determined to ensure that they are well-prepared if and when they have to make a career change. As many now understand, an improved educational qualification may mean the difference between surviving the recession or not.
Fortunately, in Ireland we have many courses and colleges which are superbly capable of helping people who are looking to update, upskill and gain or enhance their qualifications. Here are some of the cream of this year’s crop.
The Sound Training Centre’s long-established courses cover all aspects of Music Production. Their annual Open Day has become a significant event in the Irish music calendar, and this year it takes place on Saturday August 22 from 12pm-4pm at their premises on Curved Street in Dublin’s Temple Bar. Interested participants can see all the STC’s facilities at first hand and chat to their lecturers and students. You don’t need to book, but call Lee at 01-6709033 if a different day/time might suit you better.
The Principal of the Sound Training Centre, Les Stapleton, points out that careers in the music industry, especially in sound and stage production, have for a long time been geared towards the freelance, independent route, and this is encouraged by their courses. As Les told Hot Press, “Sound Training Centre courses are very much about hands-on experience, and we encourage students to bring their own professional clients to use our recording facilities, including Sun, Apollo and Grouse Lodge. People outside the business may still assume there are lots of full-time jobs going, but there aren’t as many as they think. People now have to think of creating their own jobs, and we’ve been encouraging that at the Sound Training Centre for years. As a result, the music industry is now heavily peopled by those who have done our courses and have gone to work with people like the late Michael Jackson, Snow Patrol, REM, Paolo Nutini, Stereophonics, the list goes on and on. It’s been estimated that up to 1,000 come though music industry courses every year, but if there are fifty jobs, or even half that, to be filled, that’s the most, so the emphasis must be on creating your own career and building on client-based portfolios. To that end we take students right through everything, including drawing up a detailed business plan.”
Further information is available from www.soundtraining.com.
Griffith College is Ireland’s largest independent third-level institution. Today, there are over 8,000 students studying in the College, which is a designated educational institute of the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC). Situated on a seven-acre campus on Dublin’s South Circular Road, it has earned an impressive national and a growing international reputation. The College has gained an enviable track record for providing students with first class lectures and excellent study material, and programmes are offered in TV and Video, Photography, Journalism, Sound Engineering and Applied Digital Media. They have an open day on the 22nd August.
For the coming Autumn, they’ve introduced some important new courses too. One is an MA / Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism and Media Communications validated by HETAC, starting in September. The proliferation of media in Ireland has multiplied interest in the media, and with the Internet thrown in, it’s an area that has become central to the lives and careers of an increasing number of people. Another new set of courses at Griffith College is their LLM in International Law, LLM in Human Rights Law and LLM in Commercial Law. These are one-year, full-time Masters programmes, validated by Nottingham Trent University and unique to Ireland.
Across a very broad prospectus, Griffith College offers both academic and professional programmes, full and part-time, short-term and long-term and from classroom to distance based. All their programmes enjoy external approval and are taught by highly-respected lecturers who give students an inspiring and rewarding education.
For further information on Griffith College courses, go to www.gcd.ie
ICD Business School (www.icd.ie), along with its educational partner BPP (www.bpp.com), have established themselves as premier deliverers of quality third-level qualifications in both the UK and Ireland. BPP have a superb track record for the quality of their Accountancy, Business and Law programmes in the UK and Ireland over the past thirty years, and are actually the only private college to have been awarded by the Privy Council the right to award their own degrees.
In conjunction with HETAC (Higher Education Awards Council of Ireland) they can now offer to prospective students degrees in BA in Accountancy and Finance (Level 8 NFQ, 3 years) with maximum exemptions from ACCA F1-F9 inclusive, and BA in Business Studies (including one year work experience).
They also offer two-year Higher National Diplomas in Business, and in Business and Finance (with the ability to progress onto the BA in Accountancy and Finance, validated by HETAC www.hetac.ie, Business and Marketing, Business and Management, Business and Human Resources Management, Business and Law, Business and Computing, and Hospitality.
For any student who has had a problem with maths in the Leaving Certificate, the HNDs will allow them to progress onto a world-class degree programme. For information and more details on the above, contact [email protected] , phone: 01 6629386, fax: 01 6629506 or simply call in to their office at BPP House, 5 Lad Lane, Dublin 2.
Courses can also help people make important lifestyle changes or enhance the quality of their leisure purists, irrespective of whether they affect career prospects. And some do all of that. The Donegal Adventure Centre is now accepting enrollments for their surf-instructor courses. This is a ten-week course based in Bundoran, and it’s aimed at people who fancy becoming one of those cool surfie types you see on the beaches every year giving surf lessons. Basically, all you need to be able to do is swim, and the good folks at Donegal Adventure Centre will do the rest. They provide all the equipment that you need, teach you how to surf, give you guidance in first aid and lifesaving as well, and after ten weeks you will be eligible to take the ISA surf instructor level 1 qualification, and your beach lifeguard exam. As it happens, there’s a well-established link between surfing and music (The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean et al) and Bundoran just happens to be a great town for live music, so this course should prove totally irresistible to a surf-loving musician with some time on his or her hands! For further information, visit the DAC website at www.donegaladventurecentre.net, e-mail them at [email protected] or phone Darby at 07198 42418