College Choice/Brian Mooney: Careers in tourism and hospitality are attractive at the moment with more than 50 new hotels due to open in 2006, bringing an additional 5,000 rooms to the industry.
While access to a management career in hotel and catering can be gained through several channels, the most popular among today's employers is the recruitment of college graduates with degrees in hotel and catering management or a related discipline.
Institutes of technology throughout the State as well as some universities offer these degree programmes, and entry is through the CAO applications procedure.
DIT, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), Waterford IT and IT Tralee as well as the specialist Shannon College of Hotel Management offer Level 8 degree courses in hospitality management (DIT, Waterford and Tralee), culinary arts (DIT), hotel and catering management (GMIT), tourism marketing (DIT) and event management (DIT). Shannon College offers a business studies degree in international hotel management, and a commerce degree in which students spend the fourth year at NUI Galway.
Entry to Shannon is, however, through a combination of CAO points and an interview.
The points requirements for Level 8 courses in 2005 (first round) ranged from 230 for hospitality management at Tralee to 590 for the Shannon commerce degree.
Level 7/6 courses are widely available from ITs including Athlone, Cork , Dublin , Dundalk, Galway-Mayo, Letterkenny, Sligo, Tralee and Waterford. Degree courses on offer include hotel and catering management, tourism, hotel and catering supervision, hotel and restaurant management, leisure management, international bar and food service management, culinary arts, hospitality management, event management, hospitality information technology, bar management, front office management, sports and recreation and business studies. This last includes programmes in recreation and leisure, tourism, culinary arts, tourism and languages, and catering supervision).
DIT provides the widest range of these courses. Three courses offered by Letterkenny IT are delivered at the specialist Tourism College in Killybegs. Points requirements in the first round of 2005 ranged from 145 for hotel and catering management at Athlone and business studies (tourism) at Tralee to 265 for business studies (recreation and leisure) at Waterford IT.
For those who want to pursue a career in tourism but do not wish to go through the CAO system, courses leading to internationally recognised qualifications are available through Fáilte Ireland.
Fáilte Ireland offers courses in four categories - skills training, craft certificate, advanced and higher certificate, and degree programmes. Most courses are full-time, but some offer part-time options or on-the-job training. All courses provide an opportunity for professional, supervised work experience.
All courses lead to qualifications awarded by the Further Education and Training Awards Council (Fetac) or the Higher Education Training Awards Council (Hetac), which are recognised internationally. The majority of the courses are grant-aided and 99 per cent of trainees find employment within the tourism industry.
The first category, skills training courses, are held in Fáilte Ireland training centres throughout the State. They take place over 13 weeks and lead to a national skills certificate. On completion trainees can go directly into employment or apply for further full-time college-based training. They can also opt for on-the-job training through the Industry Qualification Scheme or apply for the National Apprenticeship Scheme.
The second category, craft certificate courses, are held at institutes of technology. These full-time programmes run for one or two years and lead to a national certificate. Graduates can then go into employment, take short professional development courses or apply to take an advanced or higher certificate degree course.
Institutes of technology also deliver advanced and higher certificate courses. These run on a full-time or day release basis over varying periods depending on the course. Graduates receive an advanced national certificate or higher certificate and can then gain further training at work, take short professional development courses or apply to study for a degree.
Of course, careers in tourism are not confined to hotels, restaurants and bars - they can also be found in many visitor attractions, sports, and activity centres, tourism information offices, tour operators, and travel agencies.
Fáilte Ireland can facilitate all entrants to the industry by helping them choose an appropriate course and career path, and by monitoring and encouraging their professional development. There is even a scheme that enables those working in the industry to gain formal recognition for their experience and achievements.
With 6,000 new jobs coming on stream every year and many enterprises opening or expanding their operations, career prospects are bright.
Contact Fáilte Ireland at 1850 256 256 or visit their website.
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Brian Mooney's column on CAO options will appear each weekday in the run-up to the deadline at the end of this month.
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