Employees and school leavers who are prepared to study part-time should be invited to enrol for vacant places in third-level courses in an effort to address the State's skills shortages, according to the Labour Party.
As hundreds of vacant places began to emerge through the CAO system yesterday, Labour Senator Joanna Tuffy called on colleges to take a "progressive decision" about filling the vacancies.
The Seanad spokeswoman for education said universities and institutes of education should consider offering places to school leavers and those already in employment who cannot commit to full-time education but who might be interested in attending part-time. "These vacancies will include key labour market sectors as engineering, science, electronics, business and hospitality management. The country's future viability as a knowledge-based economy depends on the filling of these places."
Ms Tuffy said employers would respond positively to facilitating workers who wish to attend college part-time. "Most of the courses with vacancies are already modular, so there should be no problem in facilitating part-time day students to accumulate credits towards a degree on a gradual basis."
Meanwhile, the TUI yesterday advised students who did not receive an offer to consider the courses available through further and higher education institutions. Tim O'Meara, TUI president, also advised students to consider the wide variety of Post-Leaving Certificate courses on offer.