Strong demand sees sharp rise in number of PLC applicants

SOARING demand for training has left at least two people turned down for every successful applicant to restricted places on further education courses.

A survey of colleges offering post Leaving Certificate (PLC) programmes for adults shows that a dozen of the country’s biggest providers had almost 46,000 applications for just under 14,000 available places.

A Government cap of 31,500 places across the sector has been in place since last year, despite growing numbers of unemployed and low-skilled people seeking to improve their qualifications through such courses.