Women leading the way in continuing education courses

ALMOST two-thirds of the 3,500 continuing education students registering for courses at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) for the autumn will be women.

As the profile of those participating in lifelong learning continues to change, the college revealed that the proportion of women on evening courses has risen from just 10% a decade ago to around 60%.

Paul O’Mahony, head of CIT’s department of continuing education, said the age profile of students has also increased in recent years.

“We have many older students availing of continuing education courses for career advancement, seeking promotional opportunities in their chosen field,” he said.

“There has been a steady growth in the demand for lifelong learning over the last decade, and our course profile has expanded to accommodate this demand,” Mr O’Mahony said.

Around half of the places being filled this autumn will be on business courses, where the most popular studies are human resources and starting a business.

However, there has also been a surge in applications for courses in accountancy, computers and manufacturing engineering in recent years, while the range of counselling courses has been increased to meet demand.

CIT’s 2006/20007 continuing education prospectus, Bring You Further, was launched yesterday by Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Michael Ahern, who is on a year’s sabbatical from his job as an accounting lecturer in the college.

Among the new courses are Introduction to Civil Engineering Surveying; Masters of Engineering/Postgraduate Diploma in Telecommunications Engineering; Honours Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management; Foundation Diploma in Shipping; Professional Supervision Training for Helping Professions and Practical Bakery Techniques.

For more details go to www.cit.ie or call 021 4326577.

Registration will take place at CIT’s main campus in Bishopstown from 6.30pm to 8.30pm on: September 5 for business and humanities; September 6 for engineering courses, and September 7 for science courses.