Waterford IT: A news degree course at the Waterford Institute of Technology has already attracted intense interest from a cross-section of people in the 30 to 50 age bracket. The new BA in theology will begin next September for part-time students. It will be offered on a full-time basis from 2003, writes Catherine Foley

The enquiries to date have come from "lay people, the majority tend to be female, many working as home-makers", says Dr Michael Howlett, the course director. "You tend to get teachers who might be trying to upgrade their skills for teaching the new Leaving and Junior Cert religious programmes; you'll also find people with a pastoral role in various organisations - schools, companies and factories, also human resource managers, interested."

It is hoped the course will provide students with "the same transferable skills you would get with any BA degree - good critical, analytical skills," says Howlett.

This is the first course of this type at WIT, but Howlett says most colleges in Britain and in the rest of Europe and the US offer courses in theology. This State has been the exception where "you could only study theology if you went to a seminary or to Trinity," he says.

Now a number of colleges, such as the Milltown Institute and All Hallows in Dublin and NUI Maynooth, offer theology courses. "The number of lay people studying theology has increased... People are more critical of the churches and there's a greater interest and a big curiosity there," he says.

The course will be inter-denominational, with modules costing approximately €220.