Computer students on cloud nine after graduation

They’ve been in the same class for 18 months, but these students only met for the first time yesterday — at the graduation ceremony to mark completion of the country’s first dedicated degrees in cloud computing.

The courses were delivered online by Cork Institute of Technology as a landmark in higher education, providing a pool of workers for one of the fastest-growing technology industries.

Some of the 61 students on the unique master’s degree logged on for lectures from Russia, the Netherlands, Spain, France, and Britain, but they are completing their theses with a view to graduating in the autumn.