MODESTY prevented the three students interviewed by E&L from being too ebullient about their exam success. However, it was clear from talking to them that the distinction of coming top of their class was both immensely satisfying and an important stimulus 19 keep on going.

Being a night student is never easy, but it can be even more difficult for mature students, who have to balance different commitments and contend with the fact that they may have been out of the swing of formal education for some time. Tangible evidence that they are doing well gives an important boost to their self-confidence.

Frank Dunne came top of the foundation-level exams in the history of music. A banker for almost 35 years, he took early retirement just over two years ago. An accomplished tenor, who combined a singing career with his "day job" for many years, he is taking part in the production of Macbeth at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre, part of Opera Ireland's spring season.

"It sounds overly romantic to say that I left the bank to concentrate on music," he says. "But after almost 35 years of banking I felt I had been there long enough - and having always been deeply involved with music, the early retirement package provided me with the (opportunity to give it more attention.

Trained by Frank Cowle and Veronica Dunne (no relation), Frank Dunne now combines performing, studying and a little teaching when he has the time. He already holds a BA from UCD, but he decided to sign up for the modular programme in the history of music and politics "to put some sort of formal structure on the knowledge I had built up over the years", he says.

"I have found the lectures stimulating and I enjoy the study and the research involved. I'm less happy about the exams however - they have been tough going."

The advantage of the modular programme is that students are under no time pressure to complete the course. They can opt to take either one or two subjects at a time; while Frank began with two, he is taking time out from politics this year because of increased performing commitments.

"I think the flexibility of the structure is terrific and it suits me very well - I'm not working against the clock to get it finished," he says. As an early retiree, does he miss anything about his former life? "Just the people," he says.

TINA KELLY came top of her class at foundation level in sociology. A mother of three who resigned an administrative job with Guinness to become a full-me mother, she sees the course as "something for myself, both in terms of self-development and a possible return to work when my children are older".

Her success in the examinations came as a big surprise. "I hadn't done a major exam since my Leaving Cert and I really didn't know what to expect," she says. "I decided to go for it, and I felt that even if I only managed to scrape through the year wouldn't have been wasted.

"As it turned out I must have got something right! Doing well in the exams has given me a real incentive to continue. I know it will take me quite a while to get the degree, doing it one subject at a time, but this pace suits me.

"Hopefully, I'll finish next year and then I'll look at choosing a second subject to complement sociology. I have found the teaching at UCD excellent, the lecturers are very helpful and there is very good, support between the students fort each other. I think we were all apprehensive starting off, but once you get over that initial feeling of uncertainty it has been great," Tina says.

BRENDAN BUNBURY has gone one better - he is a double prize winner in English, having topped the class at foundation and, second level. A painter and decorator by trade, he left school after Inter Cert and only returned to the education system in his early thirties when he studied for Leaving Cert English before enrolling in the "Returning to Learning" programme at UCD.

"This was a brilliant course. I loved it and it was excellent preparation for the degree programme," he says.

"I left school at 16. I was fed up with it at the time. possibly because I had a speech impediment and I didn't contribute very much. So there was a big gap in my education - though I read a lot in between. English appealed to me, which is why I chose it for the degree, and I would like to take history as my second degree subject.

"It's going to take me eight years to get the degree, which is a long time, so the prizes have been good from the point of view of giving me a positive endorsement for what I'm doing.

"I'm not saying that it's been easy, but it has been exceptionally rewarding."