College welcomes rising interest in IT

WATERFORD Institute of Technology said yesterday it was very encouraged by the number of budding undergraduates showing a keen interest in science and technology courses at the college — programmes which have been in critical decline nationally over the past decade.

Close to 4,000 students and their teachers got an insight into life at third level yesterday as they gathered for the institute’s annual open day.

All of the IT-centred talks with students and their teachers were fully subscribed for the first time in years. And judging from the interest shown in the institute’s growing number of IT and science programmes yesterday, that trend is set to continue, according to the institute’s marketing and communications manager, Olive O’Connor.

“For the first time in years, we’ve noticed a marked increase in interest in IT on campus.”

Elsewhere around the state-of-the-art campus, those interested in pursuing a career in science visited the institute’s chemical, pharmaceutical and biology labs. They also visited the nursing labs, hives of activity which mirror real life working wards. Those interested in a career in tourism and hospitality also saw first-hand just how hot it can get in the kitchen.

WIT also offers new programmes in architecture and psychology.