Limerick college to teach teaching in Thurles

One of the country’s largest teacher-training colleges is to take up a role in educating second-level teachers as it takes over St Patrick’s College in Thurles as a satellite campus.

The transfer to become part of Mary Immaculate College (MIC) in Limerick is to be finalised in the coming months but the announcement brings certainty to the future of the Co Tipperary college. It did not enrol any new students this year to its initial teacher education (ITE) programmes that qualify graduates to teach accounting, business studies, Irish and religion.

MIC is the largest ITE provider outside of Dublin, and offers one of the country’s two main undergraduate courses for entry to careers in primary school teaching. However, there were no graduates this year, or at St Patrick’s College in Dublin, as the B Ed degree has been extended from a three-year to a four-year programme.