UL to offer liberal arts evening degree

UL has been running evening degree programmes in Law and BusinessStudies for a number of years. Now it's adding a BA to its part-time courseline-up. Olive Keogh reports

Studying at night is still the main option open to many people whose days are filled by work or family commitments. Yet night degree programmes are not plentiful despite the demand.

The University of Limerick (UL) is about to add itself to the list of options with a new part-time BA programme which starts this autumn. The BA has been put together in response to an overwhelming demand in the Limerick area for an arts/humanities-based degree programme at night.

The programme will run over four years and the first group of students will be seen the whole way through before there is a second intake. "It's a new course for us and we want to make sure we get everything right and don't overstretch our resources," says course director Dr Padraic Lenihan.

"In order to guarantee good teaching and good support to our students we will limit the intake to about 35 people. In the final year students will undertake a fairly substantial research project so we need to keep the numbers small to manage this effectively." The choice of subjects is based on market research that identified history, politics, sociology and literature as the most popular subject areas.

Students pick a combination of three and lectures for the programme take place on three nights a week between September and May.

Apart from putting together the academic side of the course, UL has also set up a wider support structure involving training in study skills, time management and how to cope with the pressure of balancing work, home and study commitments.

"There can be quite a high rate of attrition among night students because they have other demands in their lives," says Padraic Lenihan. "We recognise this and are hoping to minimise the number of students who drop out by teaching them how to handle the different hurdles they will have to cross." Selection for the course is by interview and entry is open to all. An ability to enjoy and complete the course is seen as more important than previous academic achievement. The closing date for applications is this Friday.

• For details contact the Department of Lifelong Learning, (061) 202494 or e-mail lifelonglearning@ul.ie