Two-thirds disappointed after cap on PLC courses

AROUND two-thirds of people applying to study in some further education colleges have been unsuccessful because of a cap on places imposed by the Government, a union has claimed.

The Teachers Union of Ireland estimates that about 30,000 people who applied for just 31,688 places in Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses have been left disappointed. It said that applicant numbers have risen sharply this year to more than 60,000 people, most of whom have lost their jobs or have just finished school, and called for additional places to be sanctioned.

The union has collated figures from a dozen of the biggest PLC colleges, showing they had more than 35,600 applications for courses this autumn but they could only accommodate 12,118 students, leaving more than 23,000 disappointed.

“Many of the principals we spoke to said they could start additional courses this week for PLC students on waiting lists if they were given the teaching resources to do so,” said TUI president Don Ryan.

Most further education colleges offering PLC courses are run by local Vocational Education Committees (VECs) and courses are often tailored to meet the skill needs of local industry. Many of the qualifications can also be used as an alternative means of entry to third level programmes.

Almost 18,000 of the 74,000 people who applied for a third level place from the Central Applications Office (CAO) this year have not yet been offered a place. Just under 44,500 people have now taken up a third level college place after yesterday’s deadline for accepting Round 2 CAO offers passed.

The Department of Education has had a limit of just over 30,000 PLC places for a number of years, although an extra 1,500 places were sanctioned recently by the Government.

“PLC courses are a very cost-effective way of up-skilling the population and restrictions on places make no economic, social or educational sense,” Mr Ryan said.

The biggest number of unsuccessful applicants were those seeking places at Ballyfermot College of Further Education, where more than 5,500 people applied for just 1,200 places.

St John’s Central College in Cork City had 4,500 applications for just 1,200 places and Coláiste Stiofán Naofa, also in Cork, had 2,765 applications but could only register 600 PLC students.

Seven of the colleges indicated they could provide almost 1,200 extra places between them almost immediately if the necessary teaching resources were provided.

Among them were St John’s College which said it could provide 100 extra places and Cork College of Commerce said it could provide 300 places on top of the 1,845 for which it had more than 3,500 applications.