Spring. The time when thoughts turn from the long, dark winter to the joys of the summer and all that it entails. For the majority of the Hot Press readership, that would include the growing number of festivals, perhaps a trip overseas for those with money, and many golden evenings spent chilling out.

For many, however, the next five months are the most confusing and nerve-wracking of their lives. With it comes the worry that, before you even sit your Leaving Cert, you have to decide what the hell you do next.
The choices have been getting wider and wider as the years go on. When I was eighteen, it was an arts or science subject and that was pretty much it. Now, a whole world of opportunity stretches out before you, which of course can make the decision all the harder. Ballsbridge College is typical of the new breed. While a qualification in Marketing, Advertising & Management may now seem a standard option, their course in International Aid & Development certainly isn’t. Aimed at providing a route into working for the NGO sector, the studies take in politics, fundraising and publicity. Likewise the International Event Management course, which combines training in event work with a European language.
For those interested in pursuing a career in the media, entertainment or music sector, Dun Laoghaire College of Further Education is a fine starting point. The college adopts a unique real-life approach to these subjects, allowing students to put their skills to the test and see how the different sides of the industry work together. Last year the sound engineering course produced its second album, which had sponsorship raised by marketing students and gigs organised by those studying event management. With fully equipped sound, radio and television studios, the college has become a vital feeder establishment for the Irish entertainment business.
“A lot of the students come to us on the recommendation of those who have graduated and are working in the industry”, says Principal Michael Condren, "so we have a diverse mix of students of all ages who are perhaps looking to enter the profession. There’s a lot of project work on the media courses which students enjoy and which is an excellent way for students to learn the practice and disciplines of say journalism or sound engineering.” The courses combine their own tutors, all of whom have extensive practical experience, with visiting lecturers such as Angela Dorgan from the Federation of Music Collectives, Dr Tom Cloonan from the Irish Times and Faction Records’ Ken Allen.
For over twenty years now, The School of Communications at DCU has been renowned for providing the most comprehensive media communications courses in Ireland. DCU have pioneered the development of teaching in communications, journalism and multimedia at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The School is the only university department in the state that is focused on media and is one of the largest of its kind in Europe, with 600 undergraduate students, 130 students on taught Masters programmes, and 25 research students. With an international reputation for its teaching and research, DCU attracts students and researchers from all of Ireland, from many other parts of Europe, and from North America and Asia, and beyond.
Of particular interest are the School’s Post Graduate courses, which offer further training in the media field. A mixture of full-time and part-time courses, they aim to provide those working in the communications industry with an opportunity to discover new trends and reassess the way they view the medium in contemporary society. The School offers students access to a full range of technical resources, as well as a teaching staff with a huge breadth of both academic and professional experience.
Crumlin College, meanwhile, caters for a different end of the leisure industry, as its Principal Gretchen Smyth explains. “There’s a huge interest in the service type courses. Beauty therapy and hairdressing are very popular, courses such as beauty and retail sales and make up for professional media. In the last year or two hairdressing has come very much back into vogue”. Students of these kind of courses find that they are entering an industry that is in a state of continual expansion. “There’s no difficulty getting placed in hairdressing and I would say the same with the beauty courses. There are so many places opening up with spas and health farms, any hotel of a certain standard has beauty treatment of some sort on offer. Courses going into the sports therapy field or holistic massage are very popular. It is across the board age wise, we have a lot of people in their 30s applying as well as the younger end. Some of the courses, especially hairdressing, also offer an introduction to the business aspect of the industry, something that is vital as more and more people set up on their own”.
Another popular subject taught in the college is fashion, taking in buying and merchandising. “The students cover range planning, profiling, advertising and marketing as well as retail display and business skills” says Gretchen. “All courses at this level have a compulsory work placement section which helps a lot of the students find jobs when they leave. We are going to run a second year fashion management course which will go much more into the business side of things. That starts this September”.
With 1,500 students, IADT (also in Dun Laoghaire) is unique in Ireland – the only Institute of Art, Design and Technology. Organised in three schools, School of Creative Arts, School of Creative Technologies and School of Business and Humanities, IADT is also home to the internationally recognised National Film School. In the School of Creative Arts, disciplines include visual arts, photography, visual communication, production design, film, animation, TV, radio and interactive media. The School of Business & Humanities, meanwhile, offers an invaluable look at the arts from a business perspective as well as English, media and cultural studies.
The National Film School has, since it’s launch in 2003, become one of the key resources for the Irish film industry and beyond. Former students including Aisling Walsh, Kirsten Sheridan, Kieron J. Walsh, Robert Quinn, Liam McGrath and Conor McMahon have gone on to make their mark in the business as directors, as have producers and cinematographers. Their work has been shown at more than 75 different film festivals across the world.
That’s just the start. The worlds of education and employment have become more closely entwined over the years, to the point that one now cannot function without the other. The key beneficiaries of all this are the students themselves, who may now face a bewildering number of choices but also a huge number of options.