The Institutes of Technology (ITs) should provide courses throughout the calendar year, reduce the length of their apprenticeships and allow students to combine work and tuition, a Government advisory group has recommended.
The group recommends that 30 per cent of students take courses during the summer while 10 per cent should be allowed to attend college on Saturdays. Many ITs operate only from September to May and are not open for tuition on Saturdays.
Altering these arrangements would prove attractive to those in employment who are looking to do courses and would ensure a "year-long flow of placements" for companies and "avoid having valuable institute facilities in demand lying idle", the group says.
The Institutes of Technology educate about 45,000 students, but the group says this is likely to fall, in line with wider demographic trends in the economy.
The recommendations come from the Skills Initiative Unit, which forms part of the Department of Education and develops policy in co-operation with the colleges. Its director, Dr Sean McDonagh, former head of Dundalk IT, is author of its document, Institutes of Technology and the New Economy.
The colleges should "facilitate new forms of shortened apprentice programmes for experienced workers", says the document. It says construction workers represent 10 per cent of the workforce and many get their skills from the IT sector.
By shortening courses more of them could enter the labour market faster. Their inclusion on summer and Saturday courses should be especially considered, the document says.
Dr McDonagh says there is no longer competition for entry on many of the ITs' technician courses, including those in high-skill areas. "All minimally qualified applicants are admitted. Such courses are demanding and require motivated students," he says.
However, he says many students are not ready to go into full-time courses from school and require alternative options. One suggested is deferred entry, where a student does work experience instead or combines their course with a job.
Dr McDonagh also calls for the creation of a new category of student, an institute trainee. This is someone who combines work and study and accumulates credits over a calendar year. They would not be a full-time employee but would shorten their working week to attend an IT, although they could possibly access tuition in their workplace. Many of them would be endorsed by an employer, who could use the scheme as a form of recruitment.
The flexibility of these arrangements would assist new types of students, such as older people, second-chance students, immigrants and those in part-time or "dead-end employment", says Dr McDonagh.
Emmet Oliver can be reached at eoliver@irish-times.ie