Educating for recovery

It could be said that in the modern Cork economy, there have been two defining episodes. One was some decades ago when the folly of an "all-the-eggsin one-basket" approach was seen for what it was when like dominoes, the big industries collapsed. It's been well documented. In no chronological order, they included textiles, ship building, the motor industry, the steel industry, the Dunlop factory, and others too. It was a dismal time in the city.

But of equal importance was that in the wake of these disasters, semi-state organisations such as IDA Ireland sought a new focus and in tandem with the city's educational institutions, they found it. Like all local economies, there have been spills and thrills since then, but in the case of Cork, there have been outstanding achievements in the effort by the educators to tailor a student product to a marketplace in flux and constantly demanding new expertise. For its part, the IDA diversified its activities, seeking to attract to Cork cutting-edge industries such as those on the pharmaceutical/chemical and electronics side. It was the role of the Cork Institute of Technology, University College Cork (UCC) and the National Micro-electronics Research Centre, to respond.

While UCC and the NMRC were forging ahead, the Cork Regional Technical College was fighting a battle for institute status, believing the excellence of its courses and the growing student population deserved no less. It was a long and often fraught tussle with officialdom and it was spearheaded in a quiet but determined way by the director of the CIT as we now know it, Mr Pat Kelleher. Two years ago, the then Minister for Education, Mr Michael Martin, renamed the college the Cork Institute of Technology.

The teeming campus which he oversees today could hardly be compared to what things were like a decade ago at the Bishopstown complex to the west of the city.

Certainly, when he began his teaching career in the Crawford Technical College during the early 1960s in the centre of Cork, no one could have foreseen how the business of provision of education in the city would have burgeoned. They might have been leaner times but they were a lot less frenetic. "It's difficult to measure what was happening then against today's world. Literally, we are world's apart," says Mr Kelleher. "It's exciting but it's also a little frightening. The pace of change is leading us and no one can be sure where we are heading.

"Our mission is to keep abreast, where we can, to anticipate and to ensure that we are delivering the best possible education package to our students at all levels," he says. "We have very close ties with UCC but our role is a different one from UCC's and we are producing people with different and varying skills and for different markets." Mr Kelleher adds that the institute under his charge also administers a college of art and design, a school of music, a catering school which has won some renown, an arts festival which has become part of Cork's cultural life, and a continuing education/evening-course programme which is one of the most far-reaching in the State. It plays an important role in providing a back-up for the tourism industry through its syllabus and it will be an integral part of the new nautical college at Ringaskiddy.

Today, the institute prides itself on the all-round package it offers to students from crafts right through to doctorate level. It has increasingly close ties with industry, particularly the cluster of new ones that came to replace the all-embracing giants that had gone before in Cork. These include state-of-the art technology companies, leading names such as Apple and Novartis and those involved in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering, computer manufacture and software and commercial services.

The close ties courses are offered by the institute is easily demonstrated by the degree course offered by the Department of Physics and Applied Instrumentation. It has affiliations to 25 major industries in the region including: Analog Devices (electronics); Pfizer (chemicals); Irish Refining; Schering Plough (chemical); SCI (electronics); Dovatron Ireland (electronics); ReSound Ireland (medical instrumentation) and EMC (computing). Together with these companies and many more, the CIT has structured courses to meet the changing needs of modern industry. That's probably what makes it different. It has responded to market demands at the highest level but at every other level too because uniquely, it is in a position to do so because of how its courses at all levels are designed.

Each year, up to 3,000 people continue their education at the CIT by night and there are programmes for those in the workplace already who wish to upgrade their skills at the institute. Mr Kelleher and the CIT's registrar, Mr Brendan Goggin, point out that the tiered approach to degree courses and craft skills means the CIT can fill niche requirements at almost all rungs on the market ladder. That is why it is put forward alongside UCC as one of the most crucial educational facilities in the greater Cork region and beyond. The scope of its syllabus, probably, is one reason why it is cited as a flagship to prospective industries considering locating in the region.

On the day I visited the director in his office, the boardroom next door was taken over by three Pfizer officials. They were there to interview prospective employees from the CIT. The three were themselves former graduates of the institute, then, of course a regional college. That was a source of some satisfaction to Pat Kelleher.

Another development, one about which he is characteristically reticent, is that the NUI next May, will award him an honorary LLD in Cork to mark his achievements.

Almost 13,000 full-time and part-time students attend the CIT and it has nearly 500 full-time teaching staff, although the staffing levels expand dramatically when all the part-time staff are taken into account. Such growth has brought its own problems. The institute must find new space.

This will mean developing a series of new buildings which will adjoin the existing campus. The capital cost of these will run to almost £70 million which is an indication of where the CIT is going, given that its annual budget is less than £30 million.

"Nowadays, we're a big business, but I hope we haven't lost sight of what it's all about and that is helping people to realise their own potential," says Mr Kelleher.

"We have good sporting facilities here too - that's crucial for the healthy development of students, and I hope that we are developing the skills to deal with their problems and needs, outside the workrooms and lecture theatres. I think we are," he said.