Exhibition puts focus on return to education

From stargazing and shiatsu to bridges towards college, a range of courses on offer around Cork this autumn can all be found under one roof next week.

For more than 30 years, the Cork Adult Education and& Training Exhibition has been informing the public of what is available, but this year there is a key focus among participants on opportunities for retraining, upskilling, and changing careers.

There remains, however, a strong emphasis on leisure pursuits. Cork Astronomy Club, Bishopstown Orienteering Club, and Cork Bridge Club will have stands alongside colleges and training agencies during the exhibition at City Hall from Tuesday to Thursday next week.

As tens of thousands of infants begin primary school this week, it will be a chance for many people to return to education, and advice on available supports will be freely given.

Presentations will be offered on Wednesday by the adult guidance service of City of Cork Vocational Education Committee and the Department of Social Protection, which may be of particular interest to unemployed people curious about the available supports while taking courses.

“It’s a great opportunity to find out about your choices and what financial and other help is available for those taking up a training or education course,” said exhibition organiser Tina Neylon.

A CV workshop on Thursday evening will help people make the best of their job applications and, like all other events, is free of charge.

As well as voluntary groups, private colleges, FÁS, community school night class organisers, and VEC training programmes, details are also available on higher education options at Cork Institute of Technology and University College Cork.

Meanwhile, UCC is offering free places for half of the 20 students on its new masters degree aimed at bridging digital skills gaps for arts and humanities graduates.

The masters& will enable students to recreate cultural objects in digital form and develop new kinds of analytic and creative questions.

“These things could be very useful in heritage settings so we might look, for example, at how old documents or items can be best presented on-screen in a museum or a smartphone application,” said Mike Cosgrave of UCC’s history department, one of the MA co-ordinators.

“A lot of these are skills that employers want, and humanities graduates are used to dealing with problems that are ill-defined.

“Another big thing these days is social network analysis, looking at how people use things like Twitter and again, these graduates are used to looking at big blocks of text and making sense of them,” he said.

All applicants for the course through the online postgraduate application system — www.pac.ie — will be considered for the scholarship covering fees of €5,400.

* For the latest on adult education courses around Munster, see Monday’s Irish Examiner.