Business, students interface in online learning

Advocates of the "virtual classroom" cite the success of the University of Ulster's online management course as representing the best way to enhance links between graduates and businesses in both parts of the island.

Five councils in Northern Ireland stand to benefit as a result of the course. Inspired by the online element, Mr John McKinney, chief executive of the Omagh District Council, along with four other councils in the North - Strabane, Dungannon, Fermanagh and Cookstown - applied for EU funding to develop schemes in the western region, to aid small to medium companies.

Among the councils' proposals is a graduate programme, a business support programme, a technology support programme and a young enterprise programme for businesses in the western region.

The University of Ulster went online with its Institute for Supervision and Management course in 1998. The course is the first of its kind in the North, and of 21 graduates who completed the course last year, seven were offered full-time employment within one month of graduating.

As companies compete against the Net, the University of Ulster is seeking 24 graduates and 24 businesses from both parts of the island to take part in this year's programme. The cross-Border initiative is funded partly by the European Social Fund with £75,000 per year - representing 60 per cent of total running costs. Companies are charged £50 a week to make up the shortfall, with students getting an £80-a-week allowance from the university.

But the course is not simply a scheme similar to the training programmes run by the British government whereby students are paid an allowance, Ms Pat Newman, of the Institute of Management said.

"It's a Catch-22 situation: students can't get work because they have no experience, and can't get experience because no one will give them a job," she said.

Ms Newman hoped businesses would understand the contribution graduates could make. "By taking on graduates the information technology invested by a company is being used to the benefit of the company, with graduates undertaking a project tailored to suit the firms requirements. It is the way things are going."