People on the peripheries linked through technology

Third-level links with an adult education centre in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, could pave the way for greater access to higher education in the south Kerry area. Already a UCC diploma course in women's studies and a Tralee IT certificate programme in supervisory management are on offer there.

The main thrust of the adult education centre - the O'Connell Centre - is computing. Research undertaken in the community highlighted an urgent need for computer training, according to the centre's director, Eamon Langford. "People wanted to learn how to use computers or upgrade their skills," he says.

Meanwhile, Fexco, the foreign exchange company based in Killorglin, Co Kerry, had also indicated that it would set up a branch in Cahersiveen, provided it could be assured of qualified staff. As a result of the training on offer at the O'Connell Centre, some 80 people are now employed by Fexco in Cahersiveen, Langford says.

The centre was established in 1996, when the local VEC school, Scoil Ui Chonaill, closed due to rationalisation. The VEC earmarked the property for adult education. A limited company - the Iveragh Institute of Technology Training (IITT), which includes representatives of the local community, Kerry Educational Services (formerly the Co Kerry VEC), Fexco and the Credit Union - was set up to run the centre.

Today, IITT is a community-owned company, limited by guarantee and enjoying charitable status.

"Community involvement is one of the main themes of the White Paper on adult education," Langford notes. "It's tremendous having the community on board in this way - they are in the best position to identify their needs." Setting up as a company limited by guarantee has proved beneficial in more ways than one. "We were able to go to the South Kerry Development Partnership for funding," Langford says.

The south Kerry catchment area - mainly the Iveragh peninsula - runs from Castlecove to Kells and has a population of 8,000. The traditional livelihoods - fishing and farming - are in decline here. The location of technology-based companies here is seen as a lifeline, enabling the population to remain in the area.

According to Langford, who was formerly principal of Scoil Ui Chonaill, many of the women now returning to study at the centre are former pupils of his. "The decline of fishing and farming means that people need a second source of income," Langford says.

The centre is going from strength to strength. It currently offers Teagasc, FAS and VTOS programmes. Last year, a CERT course attracted 38 applicants for 24 places, so they decided to run an extra course.

The Kerry School of Music, Tralee, also offers a number of courses through the centre from primary up to adult level. In the summer, the Asana School of Languages attracts Spanish, Italian and French students to the centre to study English and computing. Come summer, too, local primary-school children pour through the centre's doors to take computer courses.

You'd be forgiven for thinking the centre's doors never close. They do - but relatively rarely. Typically, the centre is open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday is the busiest day. Already, it's running out of space. A major problem for the adult education sector, Langford says, is the lack of capital funding.

Plans for the future include media-studies programmes for local second-level schools and the community. "There are modules which can be done through the NCVA in co-operation with Radio Kerry," Langford says.

The IITT is also aiming to develop an e-learning centre here. "We already have teleconferencing equipment and we're a partner in MINERVA - an EU-funded programme to develop elearning centres. We're already using teleconferencing to deliver the supervisory management course in conjunction with Tralee IT," Langford explains. "Students attend our centre and the lecturer is in Tralee. Both are on camera so they can talk to each other. Sometimes the lecturer comes to us and his lecture is transmitted to Tralee."

IITT is currently examining how people from the Iveragh peninsula can access more third-level education via the Internet and teleconferencing. For people on the peripheries, it is, Langford believes, the way forward.