While looking at college websites five weeks ago, I was not too kind in an assessment of the Athlone Institute of Technology's Internet presence (www.ait.ie). However, an e-mail from there alerted me to the fact that it has redesigned and relaunched the institute website.
The improvement is vast and easy to see. A lot of work has obviously gone into the revamped site. The first thing that catches the eye after clicking to enter from the homepage is a scrolling box of "Online News at AIT". This leads to stories on President Mary McAleese's visit to the institute and about an AIT student competing at the World Junior Games in Chile. It's a great idea to offer this kind of service and no doubt it will be expanded. A small word of advice though: people are more likely to pay a return visit if there are no glaring spelling mistakes. The course details section is very good, however, and is likely to be the main reason that outsiders visit the site.
Senior College Dun Laoghaire (www.scd.ie) was established in 1982 and now runs courses ranging from accounting and computing to interior design and beautician. One of the most interesting aspects of its site is the "student categories" section which offers a breakdown of just who is studying there, information that is surely of great use to any prospective student.
Because it is a senior college, which often are better at catering for mature students than other types of colleges, SCD is to be praised for including details of the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme which allows people over 21 and in receipt of unemployment assistance/benefit, credits or lone parent/disability allowance to keep their full social welfare entitlements as well as the cost of textbooks, exam fees etc for the duration of the course.
The Dundalk Institute of Technology's site (www.dkit.ie) is well designed, even if a few of the sections listed are not available at the moment. The course description section is what most people will look for, though, and it is excellent. Each full-time course has both "introduction" and "more detail" areas. Amongst the helpful detail here is a list of courses of further study. This allows, for instance, a certificate student to see that this can lead to getting a degree.
The list of college societies will also appeal to a lot of people: knowing that Thai-boxing and Celtic supporters were well catered for may well be what swings the vote when deciding on what college to go to!
Though the Limerick Institute of Technology operates under a governing body established under the Regional Technical Colleges Act of 1992, it traces its origins back to 1852 when the Athenaeum Society started a School Of Arts and Fine Crafts in Limerick. This is just one of the many interesting facts on its website (www.lit.ie).
The news section is good, but could maybe expand beyond listing achievements.
The Life in Limerick section seeks to redress the negative image that people sometimes have of Limerick with words on "successful urban renewal" and "a city greatly revitalised". A relevant and telling figure here is the fact that Limerick has a very high student population - more than 15,000. The student health and counselling service page is comprehensive and is something that more student sites should have.
The international aspect to education at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology is something that is likely to send a lot of traffic to its website (www.gmit.ie). Details of involvement with European countries, the US and Japan, along with information on the Socrates, Leonardo and Tempus programmes, can all be found here.
Prospective students checking out this site will no doubt be delighted to learn of the existence of Flirt FM, a full-time college campus radio station, which is a joint venture with UCG. Some of the links don't work, but overall this is a well thought out and very useful site. The use of pictures is particularly good - on many college sites these can just look tacked on.
