Building upon your qualifications can be a very satisfying, rewarding and flexible way of earning your degree. Starting from a certificate or diploma, you can progress on to a fully accredited degree, earning valuable qualifications and closely monitoring your own progress as you go.
The national certificate in business studies in the Galway-Mayo IT (GA002) gives students the opportunity to progress from a two-year certificate to a one-year diploma and then on to a degree.
"This is the way education at third level is going to go," head of the school of business studies at Galway-Mayo IT, Marion Coy, says. "Students should be able to gain qualifications that will develop with them."
One of the greatest assets of this ladder system of study is flexibility. Students can progress year by year and gain their degree in the same time as it takes to do an ab initio course or they can leave after the certificate or diploma level and go into employment.
The options don't end there. Their cert or diploma in business studies can gain students exemptions to the exams of various professional bodies, particularly in the area of accountancy. They can also take time out from their studies and return to the college to gain their diploma or degree on a full- or part-time basis.
"Students who want to follow a straight progression will find it easier to go from cert to diploma or diploma to degree the higher the marks they get," Coy says.
The minimum requirement to be considered for straight progression is 55 per cent, a merit 2, in the cert or diploma. Students will be in a more secure position if they hold a merit 1 (63 per cent) or a distinction (70 per cent). However if students don't make the grade, it doesn't mean they're left out in the cold, Coy says.
"If you don't make the 55 per cent you could go and gain work experience for a year. You will come back more focused and your experience, with your original qualification, should make you eligible for the next level."
Although the grades for straight progression might seem high, most students have the ability to achieve them, Coy says. "Students who want to go on are there to do well. A pass student is someone who is doing only the bare minimum anyway. Someone who wants to get on will be reading around their subject."
Settling into college can take time, so Coy assures that there is special help for first-years to make sure they don't fall behind. "Everyone is conscious first-years need additional support. We have a mentoring system for them so adjustments can be made when needed. Every year their progress in individual subjects is reviewed and they can attend additional classes if they find certain subjects hard."
The core subjects are similar to those in any other business course. First-year students take accountancy, maths and stats, business law, business administration and a language. Further accountancy, marketing and financial subjects are added in subsequent years. Students divert into different streams when they reach the diploma stage, concentrating on accounting, marketing, information systems, tourism, marketing or agri-business. For graduates there are strong links with local and national industry.
At a second-round cut-off of 350 points this year, the GMIT business certificate is one of the most popular add-on business studies programmes in the CAO. Yet it still rates more than 50 points less than most ab initio business and commerce degrees. Coy says there is still a need to familiarise people, particularly older generations, with the add-on route.
"The course is more than 10 years old now, so it is a long-established route. When more people feel they can come back to education, then I will feel we've done a good job."
