THE ELECTRONICS industry in Ireland must rank as one of the country's greatest industrial success stories. There are plenty of well-paid job opportunities at present and, as the industry expands, a future shortage of trained people is predicted.

The electronics industry is often equated with the computer industry however, electronics are not confined to computer hardware, but play a part in almost all manufacturing industries.

Over the next three years, the IDA predicts that 31,000 new jobs will be created in manufacturing industry. This is obviously good news for students studying electronics at certificate and diploma as well as degree level.

"We will be bard-pressed to supply enough people for the industry," comments Ronan Mullen, administration officer with Dundalk RTC.

The other good news for students considering a career as an electronics technician is that points for many of these courses are surprisingly low. Indeed, in two colleges - Letterkenny and the Castlebar campus of Galway RTC - the minimum entry requirements were sufficient to secure a place last year. It is somewhat ironic, Mullen says, that with such strong job opportunities the points remain at such low levels.

All of the regional technical colleges and the DIT offer electronics courses at certificate level. Most offer add-on diplomas and some have add-on degrees or offer students the facility to transfer to degree programmes.

Frank McCurry, head of electronics at Galway RTC, says that the jobs scene is quite reasonable at cert level. When there are plenty of jobs around, fewer people go straight on to diploma courses, he comments. The requirements to do so are either a merit in the certificate exams or a year's work experience.

Galway RTC offers another alternative: ERASMUS schemes, where students can work on a project in Europe or combine a project with an industrial placement. They may also study a number of subjects and they will get exemptions for these in the diploma programme. There are generally more places than applicants, McCurry says, due to the language requirement.

Dr Dan O'Brien, head of electronic engineering in Dundalk RTC, says that electronics offers people the opportunity of a very good, well paid, interesting job. Dundalk RTC offers a three-year diploma in electronic product development and a two-year certificate in electronics.

Of those who do the certificate, about half proceed directly into a one-year add-on diploma of the other half, who go into employment, many will return to do the diploma at a later stage. About 40 per cent of the product development graduates go on to do degrees.

Electronics is still a male-dominated area, and O'Brien says this may be due to the perception that engineering is dirty work. "The reality is that the cleanliness level in advanced manufacturing engineering is very high. Some of the cleanest rooms in Ireland - even cleaner than the delivery suites in most hospitals - are to be found in these plants," he says.