Education

Why study at a technological university?

Programme offerings and convenient locations has made technological universities the preferred choice for many students

Technological universities focus on science and technology programmes while offering many of the benefits historically associated with traditional universities. Photograph: iStock

Brian Mooney
Tue Apr 30 2024 - 01:00

If you are one of the 80,000-plus CAO applicants for 2024 and you are still considering your course choices before the July 1st deadline, I would not vary the advice I always give: list the courses you would like to study in order of preference without reference to possible points score requirements (within reason) and without speculating how you may perform yourself if you are taking the Leaving Cert this June.

One common mistake students make each year is to only list courses in their preferred college without exploring options within the wider CAO system.

The five recently created technological universities (TUs) have now restructured their course offerings, and all of them are now listed, with the location of each programme on the right-hand side of the TUs specific pages in the CAO Handbook, which is available in pdf format on the CAO website.

Some students may still be focusing exclusively on programmes on offer in the traditional research universities located in their geographic region.

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As all CAO applicants have up to 10 course choices at both Level 8 and levels 6/7, not considering the option of studying at a technological university can be a missed opportunity in application planning, particularly if one were to fall short of the CAO points requirement for the preferred course.

Technological universities have many attractions that sometimes escape the attention of prospective applicants.

The traditional universities have a long tradition of focusing on ongoing research which, even in the most prestigious of institutions, may limit undergraduate students’ access to their named lecturers, given the demands of their research work.

The lecturing staff in technological universities are, by and large, focused primarily on the students in their classes.

In time, these institutions may build up a cohort of research focused teaching staff, but not in the short term, which can benefit those who choose their courses in 2024.

Requirements

Furthermore, given the processes that they have collectively completed to meet the requirements needed to obtain university status, the TUs havea strong sense of mission and have scaled up in terms of size, compared with their previousexistence as institutes of technology.

The work on building a unified culture has resulted in strong emphasis on fostering the student experience. Because of this unified culture and enhanced student numbers overall between the various campuses, there will be excellent offerings, not only for those with academic intentions, but for those with cultural or sporting ambitions.

As the TUs now have campuses throughout the country, particularly in areas from where students previously tended to travel to bigger cities to attend university, there is now a strong regional focus, offering a university option in regions that to date have not had one.

Due to this wider regional spread, students may be able to attend a college outside the cities where the costs of renting will be considerably lower, thereby avoiding the burden of costly living expenses associated with securing accommodation away from home.

Of course, the key difference that distinguishes technological universities from the more traditional research institutions is that they have a distinctive pedagogical and research focus with emphasis on practice.

In this way students get to experience learning through “doing”. Furthermore, because of the practical requirements of programmes within the technological university sector, many courses feature an internship element with local employers.

Employability

Because students will be placed in real work situations, they will get to show their potential to future employers, which will lead to strong employability following graduation, or in many cases at the end of their placement, where contracts of employment to follow graduation are offered.

Looking at the options following graduation, technological universities are statutorily obliged to expand their research activity; this will bring opportunity for those with the ability and ambition, particularly at postgraduate level.

TUs are required to have a certain percentage of research students and must almost double this percentage within 10 years of establishment.

The technological sector has also progressively moved into the area of master’s offerings, moving them on to a more equal footing with the traditional research universities.

For those applying through the CAO, points have tended to be lower in some of the institutes of technology due to lack of demand for places.

The points requirements will inevitably rise for courses in technological universities over the coming years as they build on investments being made to bring them to their full potential, but currently they are attractive and competitive.

All the technological universities operate within European University constructs that will provide significant opportunities for students to consider additional study options throughout Europe at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Friendliness

Finally, while TUs are bigger entities than the legacy institutes of technology, their academic units are still relatively compact, and that has protected the friendliness and approachability that students have identified as a key attraction of the sector.

I am not for one minute suggesting that you should abandon your first-choice course if it is not already offered in a technological university.

What I am saying is that an exploration of the full range of course choices within your areas of interest to include the five new institutions, as well as the remaining two institutes of technology at IADT and Dundalk, might lead you to expand your list of courses coded for your final CAO list before the July 1st deadline.

Brian Mooney

Brian Mooney

Brian Mooney is a guidance counsellor and education columnist. He contributes education articles to The Irish Times

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