Taking the night-owl route to education

Donegal woman Josephine Browne attained most of her qualifications in theevening after having already completed a full day's work. Now she holds asenior academic post. Anne Byrne reports

Part-time students don't have a social life. That goes with the territory, says Dr Josephine Browne. She should know, as she obtained almost all of her numerous qualifications by studying and attending classes after she had put in a full day's work.

From Donegal, she boarded in the Convent of Mercy, Buncrana. "It was fine. Boarding gives you a great sense of independence," she says, somewhat tersely. Browne's ambition was to become a skipper in a fishing vessel, but "equality wasn't in existence" and her application was rejected on the grounds that there were no facilities for women.

Instead, she got a job in the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards, in Dublin, retrieving technical information for scientists. Two years later, she went to the Irish Grain Board as office manager. "It was a beautiful office in a red-brick house in Rathgar." The surroundings acted as a counterpoint to the hectic work atmosphere, she says.

"We traded in grain, nationally and internationally.

"I did some grain tradingthe price of Irish grain - barley, wheat, oats - is determined by moisture content. I set up a stock system - there were no PCs then and it was a nightmare tracking how much grain there was in various places around the country."

While working there, she took the first steps on what would be a very long educational journey.

She enrolled in a three-year part-time national diploma in the College of Industrial Relations. "There were three of us in the class and the course consisted of us sitting with these old Jesuits, getting instruction and discussing issues. It was excellent, the best course I ever did," she says.

She moved workplace, joining the National Social Service Council and then embarked on the third year of the BSc in management in the College of Marketing. "It was the late 1970s. Inflation was running at 26 per cent. Changing jobs was difficult, particularly as I didn't have a degree or master's." Graduating in 1970, she enrolled on a full-time one-year master's programme in UCD and lectured part-time to printers in Bolton Street.

Her fourth job was with the National Rehabilitation Board, as research officer and adult placement officer. "I did a national survey on the vocational assessment needs of the disabled in Ireland. I also had responsibility for assessing the adult disabled population of Co Wicklow, for vocational purposes. It was very interesting, very difficult and very frustrating. We were not in a developing economy. There wasn't much industry around. Most employers were positive about employing disabled people but there was 19 per cent unemployment among the able-bodied population." While working there, she studied for the Bar. "I didn't intend to practice as a barrister. I think it would be limiting to do a doctorate in industrial relations and labour law without a legal background." So, she acquired that; then enrolled in TCD to do a PhD on the impact of unfair dismissals legislation. Needless to say, the PhD was completed on a part-time basis.

The rapid pace of movement through various sectors of the labour market came to an end with a lectureship in DIT Cathal Brugha Street, in 1983. She stayed there for 14 years. In 1997, she took up a position as head of the department of business and enterprise with DLIAT. Of her many jobs, with the concomitant study, she says that it would be difficult to study IR without experience of the world of work.

As the demands of study receded somewhat, with the attainment of her PhD in 1992, Browne has renewed her interest in the sea and completed yacht masters', sea survival and coastal skipper qualifications. "The one I don't have is the ocean qualification, which I'm hoping to do. It involves a very long sea journey and I would need time off." Being acting-head of the school of business and humanities, unfortunately, allows less time for yachting.

The school offers two ab-intio degrees, two national diplomas and an add-on degree. Last year, it began a national foundation certificate. Browne describes this one-year programme for adult learners as a "fantastic course". Of last year's 17 students, almost three-quarters are now in degree courses. "These students bring so much to the school, and the institute.

"They come here with a wealth of experience. Everybody benefits." At the other end of the academic scale, there are two post-graduate students - one master's and one post-doctoral student.

"One of the things the school has to look at is the development of a research agenda. We're doing some work with Memorial University in Newfoundland," she says.

In a pilot project, last year, 18 short business modules were offered to a sample of micro-businesses (businesses employing fewer than 10 people) in Ireland and Newfoundland. This was done entirely onlinethe current project is also a pilot that will bring "instructional design skills" to the institute.

"Instead of standing up to deliver a lecture, you have to do it on a web page and make it interesting. It requires a new set of skills," she says.

DLIAT is also looking into the possibility of developing a joint master's programme with Memorial, a large university with a lot of experience in online delivery of educational programmes.

Another project in the pipeline is the setting up of a digital media incubation centre, on the DLIAT campus. "We will offer graduates incubation space and hot-desking and prepare them to migrate to the digital hub. I like the business we're in: knowledge media and entertainment."

• FACTFILE: Dr Josephine Browne

Dr Josephine Browne is acting head of school of business and humanities, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology

Education: Convent of Mercy, Buncrana, Co Donegal; national diploma in management and industrial relations, College of Industrial Relations (now the NCI); BSc in management, College of Marketing (now DIT) 1979; MBS industrial relations UCD 1980; called to the Bar 1985; PhD on impact of unfair dismissals legislation, TCD 1992.

Publications: books The Juridification of the Employment Relationship: a study of the Unfair Dismissals Legislations 1977 and 1983 (1994, Avebury); edited The Role of the State in Industrial Relations (1998 Oaktree Press); contributed chapters to Practical Employment Law (1999) and Legal Issues in Industrial Relations (1998).

Research interests: the impact of technology on work; collective and individual employment rights: European intellectual property rights; e-business in the small and micro sector; entrepreneurship and ethnicity; gender and entrepreneurship. Browne works closely with colleagues in the Employment Research Centre in TCD.

DLIAT's school of business and humanities: comprises two departments - humanities, and business and enterprise. Offers ab-initio BA in business studies with arts management; BA English, media and cultural studies; national diploma in business studies (entrepreneurship) with one-year add-on degree; national diploma in business studies in electronic commerce systems.

An add-on for the latter is being developed. National foundation certificate for adult learners. The school has nine full-time staff; 30 part-time staff. There are 250 students.