These days, if you think NCI - National College of Ireland - you also tend to think Joyce O'Connor. So closely identified with her institution has she become, that it's easy to forget her years as professor and head of the department of languages and applied social studies at UL, and her research on alcoholism.
O'Connor is a former Loreto (Bray, Co Wicklow) girl, who went on to do sociology at UCD. In 1974, with both a master's and a doctorate from UCD under her belt, she took a lecturing post in Limerick, at the then NIHE. She stayed at UL until 1990, when she moved to her present job, at what was then the National College of Industrial Relations. Her appointment caused a bit of a stir. She was the first lay person to head the college, which had previously been presided over by Jesuits, and was a woman to boot. Today, she remains a colourful if somewhat controversial character on the third-level scene. Even her critics grudgingly - and admiringly - admit that she's a woman who gets things done, against the odds.
She has taken what was a private college and turned it into something that is, well, unique. Neither a university nor an institute of technology, the NCI is in a category all of its own. O'Connor describes it as "a not-for-profit, State-assisted college". All full-time programmes, she says, and the grants and fees for them, are funded by the Department of Education and Science. Programmes are validated by the NCEA. "Our structure wouldn't be unusual in the States," she adds.
The story of the NCI goes back to the early 1950s, when the Catholic Workers' College was established by the Jesuits. Its remit was to provide education and training to both employers and trades unionists. Cynics say that the college was an attempt by the Jesuits to keep the unions on board in an era when the threat of communism was at its greatest. O'Connor, though, regards it as an early attempt at partnership, long before the partnership approach became fashionable. "The college gave a lot of people the chance to upgrade their skills in relation to negotiations and industrial relations."
By the 1980s, the Workers College had become the National College of Industrial Relations and was offering third-level programmes. When O'Connor took over in 1990, its courses, mostly in personnel and supervisory management and industrial relations, were part-time and delivered at night. O'Connor was attracted to the college because of its potential to broaden access to education. "The college was empty during the day and had the capacity to develop full and part-time courses. We built on our competencies, and developed a range of degree courses - European business and languages, infomatics, accountancy and human resources and software systems."
In 1991, the college developed a number of access courses. To date, some 800 mature students have enrolled on NCI access programmes and 90 per cent of these have gone on to third level, according to O'Connor. Students come from a variety of backgrounds, she says. The common link is their bad experiences at school. "The key issue for them," she says, "is not academic ability, but personal supports. Getting the balance between home life and study is essential."
The NCI runs 40 off-campus centres around the State. The most widely offered courses are those in supervisory management and management and employee relations. However, access programmes are also available at a number of centres, O'Connor notes. In 1993, the NCI began to offer special entry on all its full-time courses to students living in communities in locations covered by the area-based partnerships. The most recent Clancy report, launched last week, shows that although 16 per cent of the NCI's CAO intake comes from skilled manual backgrounds and 9 per cent comes from the semi-skilled category, no one comes from an unskilled background.
It was in 1995 that the decision to move from the Ranelagh site was made. With a full-time student enrolment of over 900, space was at a premium. More than three-quarters of the college's lecture theatres were in temporary buildings, which were due for demolition. Planning permission to extend had been refused. More than a few eyebrows were raised when the NCI made a bid to run the new third-level institution proposed for Blanchardstown.
"Part of the Blanchardstown remit was to encourage people back into education and into the workforce," O'Connor explains. "We felt we had a lot of expertise in this and we were encouraged by both the local community and industry in Blanchardstown." By the time the decision was made to set up an IT in Blanchardstown, the NCI was already talking to the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA). In the event, the DDDA offered the NCI a free, 1.3-acre site in the International Financial Services Centre extension. The plans for the relocated and expanded NCI were estimated to cost £31 million. When the NCI announced the sale of its four-acre Ranelagh site for £12.6 million and its relocation to the Docklands, Department of Education sources reported that officials were furious.
In August last year, it was revealed that an internal departmental memo had challenged many of the NCI project's figures, including student numbers, costings and viability of courses. Despite the setback, O'Connor remained positive. Was she embarrassed by the revelations?
"It was a shock," she admits. "But at least it brought everything out into the open and we were able to work through the issues with the Department."
A revised proposal paid dividends and, last summer, the Government announced that it was supporting the Docklands move to the tune of £7 million. "The Department has facilitated the whole development and has worked very closely with us on both the building and policy sides," she says. It is the first time that the State has agreed to fund any of the NCI's capital costs.
Work has just started on the NCI site. The five-storey building is due for completion in time for the academic year 2002-03.
