The popularity of third-level property courses has slumped rapidly, but some students are still enlisting. Why? And can they expect to find work?
APPLICATIONS FOR courses to do with the property sector have almost halved in the past two years, according to the Central Applications Office. But what of those who embarked on these courses during the boom, only to graduate in deep recession: have they emerged into a hostile jobs market? And what about the students who continue to enlist in such courses. Haven’t they watched the news for the past three years?
Of the 48 students who graduated from Dublin Institute of Technology’s course in real estate and construction economics in 2010, 19 are now working in the property industry, according to Tom Dunne, head of institute’s school of real estate and construction economics. Another 11 are doing master’s degrees in related subjects, and one is working in a family-run hotel. Dunne was unable to contact 17 of the students, and he suspects many of them may be working abroad.
Martin Hanratty, head of the department of real estate at DIT, says some of the students who graduated secured Nama-related work, mostly for private companies. These students are now valuing properties and land and advising banks on whether to sell, lease or develop land or property.
DIT is considering changing the course to adapt it to the current property market. “Probably in the next year or two we’re going to offer a specialism in property management and asset management. Rather than new building constantly . . . [in the future] it’ll be a lot about managing property and managing it well and getting the best value from it.” DIT and Limerick Institute of Technology have seen a dramatic fall in the number of students signing up for property courses, and the course is no longer running at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.
James Collins, head of the department of built environment and management at Limerick IT, predicts the drop in numbers will result in a shortage of graduates to fill the jobs available. “Employers are already starting to see that there will be some industry shortages for newly qualified graduates because of the fact that the numbers have halved so quickly.”
But Eilis Coakley, president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, says they can’t predict that this will happen. “That’s quite possible, but at the moment none of us have crystal balls in relation to that.”
She advises students to make their decisions based on their interests and aptitudes. “We do make people aware of what the current labour-market trends may be and that things may change from year to year. You wouldn’t discourage an individual from doing it, but you would make them aware, so that they think of realistic options.”
Aidan Killian, a recruitment consultant with irishrecruitment.ie, does not advise students to choose property-economics courses. “To be perfectly honest there’s probably better things students could do. The jobs market in that sector at the moment is really, really slow. They should be thinking what’s going to happen five years down the line, really, by the time they finish doing their degree. The economy might have picked up by then, but at the moment there’s very little roles for graduates in anything to do with property – nothing at all, really.”
Michael Gleeson, who works with the Institute of Guidance Counsellors and with Ard Scoil Rís, in Co Limerick, says he would not discourage students from choosing the course. “In terms of Nama, in terms of them selling assets, there is going to be the redistribution of assets and things will have to be evaluated, so from that perspective there is a certain market there, but I wouldn’t be telling people to go in their droves to do it.”
And what of those who have just embarked on a property course? Brian Martin is a 26-year-old first-year student in property economics at DIT. He started working as an estate agent after he left school, in 2002, then took a break from the sector. “I decided this year that it was the time to come back to it, really step on to the next level, get the education and move on to commercial.” He says that people often ask if he is mad for choosing the course but that when they think about it they realise it may be the perfect time to study it.
Colin Kelly, a 22-year-old fourth-year student on the same course, says it is the ideal time to study the subject, because students are so focused on being innovative and competitive. “I think what better time to be in the property course, in studying it, ready for when it comes back out and is thriving again, which it will be, eventually. Trying to make things as efficient as possible: that’s what we’re learning.”
Niamh Lambert, a 23-year-old who graduated from property economics at DIT in 2010, has since created an online property website in India, where she moved after graduating. She now lives in Gurgoan, outside Delhi, with her boyfriend, Sonny Singh, and has taken on two former classmates on internships.
So there are always opportunities for enterprising graduates, even if they are not in Ireland.
