Q&A

Q: We have a girl and a boy in primary school. Both are able to use our home computer. In school they don't seem to be encouraged to develop very many extra skills and those they have learnt seem to be different for the two of them.

Kildare father

All schools have been provided with at least one computer in the technology drive by the Department of Education and Science. Obviously the amount of time available for each class and child is limited but it's a start and many schools have enlisted the help of parents in getting more computers.

Children are coming into schools well able to use computers as learning tools and schools will have to keep up with them. Children see a big gap between the traditional school and the world outside.

They have playstations, computer games, the internet at home and are much more tuned in to the new world of communications than many parents and teachers.

It seems that boys are much more into computers, as is evidenced by the greater number progressing on to further study in information technology. As you say, boys and girls seem to learn different skills and boys seem to have greater prowess with computers and the internet.

If girls continue to fall behind in the new technologies, it will ultimately mean that fewer of them will get the new jobs.

Q :I did my undergraduate business course in Queen's University, Belfast, and would like to do an MBA. I'm working with a company in Belfast but am due to be transferred to England in the next year. Any suggestions?

Belfast graduate.

You could check out some of the British universities which are already doing MBAs and find out what facilities they have for MBA by distance learning. Bradford University, for example, has the usual evening / weekend MBA but will start with an open-learning MBA this autumn to facilitate students who found it difficult to attend weekly seminars. All you need is a computer with a particular specification so that you can communicate with the university staff and fellow students by e-mail. Bradford will also have a college-based element at the beginning of the course.

The University of Durham has a good distance- learning MBA and Keele has nine weekends combined with distance learning.

Alternatively, you could check out the Open University which uses email and computer conferencing. The OU uses computer conferencing to bring together students working in similar industries so that they can share insights and experiences. It produces case studies on CD Roms with links to company web sites as well as text based workbooks.

Distance learning is the fastest growing mode of study for MBAs in the UK with over 10,000 registered students at the moment.

Obviously, contact with your peer group will be reduced but you will have workshops and residential weekends. Courses generally take three to five years.

The official MBA handbook, Guide to Business Schools, is published annually by the Association of MBAs (phone 0044 171 8373375) and the Financial Times. The association also provides a good source of information in Study Link MBA with a database of 300 or more programmes from more than 150 global business schools and 16 continental schools which are accredited by the association. The reputation of the course is a crucial factor.

Q: I sat my national diploma exam in May 1998 and failed it. I've been given the option of not repeating this autumn but next June but have only been told just now that I will not be able to get an honours grade in the repeat exam, no matter how well I do. I want to go on and do a degree but I need an honour (credit or distinction) in the diploma to get onto that course. Is there any way around this?

Wicklow student

I see that the diploma you failed was a National Council for Educational Awards (NCEA) diploma. The NCEA has put a pilot project in place to take account of agreed standards for qualifying exam so that students may progress from national certificate to national diploma to bachelor's degree for NCEA awards in designated institutions, if they have failed an exam.

The autumn / supplemental examination for each course will be used as the qualifying exam and be subject to external moderation of the paper / test in the normal way and will be clearly identified as "qualifying exam papers". These will be sat on the same day and time as those sitting the autumn / supplemental exams for the same course.

To achieve this qualifying standard for progression to degree level, you must present for exams in all modules / subjects where you did not achieve the qualifying standard of 55 per cent of B minus grade and attain that level in each module / subject attempted in one sitting of the qualifying exam.

The successful attainment of the qualifying standard does not affect the level of an award achieved by a candidate later on and you may choose to stay on in your present college or apply for a similar course in another NCEA designated institution. However, though you may have the minimum NCEA requirements, the admitting institution has the final say in accepting you. This pilot project will operate for the intakes of both September 1998 and September 1999 so it covers your situation.

There is one area where the autumn / supplemental exam does not fit the situation and that is in art and design. This is because of the short period involved between summer and autumn exams in which it is felt that a portfolio could not be brought up to the qualifying standard.

In a case such as this you could repeat your diploma year as you have been advised to do and after that spend a year in a related work environment / industry and build up the portfolio further. If the work is considered to be of qualifying standard, you would then be accepted on to the degree course. All of these matters relate to marks and standards and should be clearly available to you from the exam office or the registrar's office of the college.

Queries can be answered only through this column and not by phone or post. Write to Sile Sheehy, Education & Living, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 - or by email to education@irish-times.ie