The entry standards for national certificates in electronics need to be higher if the students are to complete first year, says a department head in Athlone IT.
A pass in ordinary-level maths in the Leaving Certificate is no guarantee of numeracy. Four out of 42 first-year electronics students in Athlone IT were unable to solve a simple algebraic equation. Asked to solve X/6 = 5, they were stumped.
Baffled maths lecturers "drink pints, talk about this, and get depressed", says Marcus Rahilly, head of electronics, computers and software engineering at the college.
Many electronics certificates courses, he says, are registering "AQA" in the CAO points system, which means places are offered to all qualified applicants. Students with five D3s at Leaving Certificate are offered places.
The problem is that many students who get a D3 in ordinary-level maths are not capable of completing first year. Rahilly describes the D3 grade as a "normalised failure" and says that no amount of tutorials or extra attention will bring these students up to scratch.
Maths is the language of electronics, he adds, and it is unfair on these students to offer them a place on a third-level course they are unlikely to complete. It is equally unfair to waste college resources, he says.
The solution might be to raise the minimum entry requirement to a D2 in maths. But he says this must be done across the board rather than on a college-by-college basis.
Another problem facing electronics and information technology (IT) departments in institutes of technology is their ability to attract teaching staff in an environment where industry can offer more attractive remuneration packages. Rahilly says the new accelerated 18-month national certificate programmes, designed to cater for skill shortages, are growing rapidly and are a victim of their own success - in that it is a challenge to get staff to teach them.
These "sandwich" courses are aimed at non-standard applicants and comprise six months in college, six months in industry, then a further six months in college. They are on offer in a number of ITs, including Athlone. There were 290 students enrolled on the first accelerated course in manufacturing technology in January 1998. In January 1999, almost 500 students began courses in manufacturing technology and computing (IT support). Next January, accelerated certificates will include manufacturing technology, computing (IT support), industrial science, mould-making, precision engineering, and biomedical manufacturing technology.
Rahilly suggests the industrial placement often does not match course requirements with students doing low-level work. "Are we over-teaching them for what turns out to be really low-tech experience?"
He is also concerned at the lack of a direct progression route to national diploma. Students from the national certificate in technology cannot go into national diplomas in engineering, he explains, a suitable technology diploma needs to be developed or else a bridging course provided.
