With a brand new year upon us, now is the time to take stock, and think about the changes you want to make in your life – including, perhaps, an exciting new career path. At Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE), they have options to suit all interests, to help kickstart a journey to viable employment.

The college’s Logistics and Distribution traineeship is guaranteed to generate a lot of interest, considering the explosion in online shopping transactions during the pandemic. As long as goods are produced, logistics – or the transporting of goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption – will always be a necessity. In fact, the global logistics market is expected to grow to 12 billion dollars by 2023.

Meanwhile, graduates from the traineeship in the ACCA Diploma in Accounting and Business can now continue on with further ACCA qualifications to become a fully-fledged accountant – making it an accessible pathway to working in the financial services industry.

To complement the college’s traditional music performance programme (Ceoltóir), with its new traineeship in Traditional Musical Instrument Making, Maintenance and Repair, BCFE is now home to the only uilleann pipe-making course in the world, and to the only harp-making course in Ireland.

And there’s a whole lot more besides. With courses in social care, business, animation, film and TV production, journalism, games design, visual effects, music – producing outstanding graduates of the calibre of Damien Dempsey, Wallis Bird, Lisa O’Neill and Junior Brother – and art and design, there’s a phenomenal range of options available at BCFE, including courses at QQI Level 4, 5 & 6, Higher National Diplomas and full Honours Degree programmes at Level 8.

The college also places a strong emphasis on practice-based learning. With years of industry experience, the staff at BCFE are only too eager to share their expertise – and to enable students to use specialist industry-standard software and equipment to give them the best possible advantage in the workplace.

Applications for 2022 are now open. See bcfe.ie for more information

Read the full Education special in the current issue of Hot Press: