Conversion Courses - Two

Postgraduate conversion courses offer an excellent opportunity for graduates to change direction and focus on a new academic or career goal. Normally one-year in length, these programmes enable graduates of unrelated disciplines to study a wholly new subject. For example, a graduate of engineering may undergo the Higher Diploma in Business & Financial Information Systems in University College Cork, or an arts graduate might decide to pursue a career in medicine by enrolling in the Graduate Medical Programme in the University of Limerick.

Why change direction?

People have different motivations for applying for a conversion programme. An undergraduate student might discover during the course of their studies that they wish to branch into a different area at postgraduate level. Others such as Clare O’Sullivan, who is currently studying the Higher Diploma in Primary Education in Froebel College of Education, may have been working for several years before deciding to return to college in order to change career.

’I was working as a nutritionist since finishing in college in 1999, and I really enjoyed the job, but I felt that when you’re working for private industry, it can be very demanding working long hours,’ says Clare. Her story is a common one; many people achieve a greater worklife balance by switching careers to teaching. It was not this reason alone however, that saw Clare returning to college. ‘Primary teaching was something I have thought about for a number of years, when I was leaving school and also when I finished my degree, but it was only last year when I re-evaluated my life and said, “I’m going to do it now”.’

Roisin Kelly was also working when she decided to enrol in a full time conversion course, but for her the Graduate Diploma in Computing in the University of Limerick represents a chance to develop her career prospects rather than a radical change of direction. Working as a member of the data support team of a major mobile phone provider, Roisin believed that she had no specialised skills and that her career was not ‘going anywhere’ as a result. ‘I had a Degree in Commerce and French but no particular profession, and I felt that’s what I needed to gear myself towards.’

Besides satisfying a long-standing interest in computing, Roisin feels that the Graduate Diploma will greatly enhance her career prospects. ‘I’ll be eligible to start applying for software engineering jobs – something I could never really have dreamed about doing before because I only had a degree with no particular specification. I can still use my business degree, but with an added IT focus – in consultancy for example. Different options appear as long as you have some sort of IT background.’

Starting over

Getting to grips with what is usually an entirely new subject in just one year is no easy task. ‘It has certainly been a challenge,’ says Clare O’Sullivan of her HDip in Education, ‘but I think the greatest thing to take into the course is an enthusiasm and willingness to learn – you have to be interested in the subject matter.’ Students will often be surprised at how skills they learned in a previous degree course or career can prove to be entirely relevant when undertaking a conversion programme. This can range from soft skills such as good writing and communication, to more specific talents.

Clare for example, notices that her extensive experience of nutrition has proven very useful during her teaching placements in the classroom: ‘It is so important nowadays, something that as teachers we have to impress upon children constantly.’ Good computer knowledge and public speaking abilities are other skills developed during her previous career in the food industry that are standing to Clare in her new role as a student teacher.

In the case of most conversion programmes however, it is not necessary for the student to have acquired specific skills in a previous course or job. Roisin Kelly for instance, had only ‘a basic knowledge of computers – typing letters in Microsoft Word and things like that – no more than most people’, when she enrolled in UL’s Graduate Diploma in Computing.

Like Clare, Roisin has also found her course challenging, especially after being out of the ‘college environment’ for a number of years, but she has found that the university has a ‘good structure’ in place to help students like her settle back into college life. And a sure mark of her progress so far is that she is the elected leader of a group project working with Unified Modelling Language – an essential process in software engineering that involves utilising abstract models and graphs to design and develop software systems.

Funding

People enrolling in conversion courses face the same financial challenges as any other postgraduate programme.  Clare O’Sullivan found it ‘extremely’ difficult to fund her Higher Diploma in Primary Education. ‘That is the one drawback for someone like myself who already has a postgraduate qualification - there was absolutely no funding for me.’ With fees and other costs such as travel and course materials to account for, Clare has found the experience to be a ‘huge commitment’. But she has no regrets whatsoever: ‘I’m certainly glad I did the course. I would advise people to go for it and you’ll always find a way of funding it and overcoming the difficulties.’

The funding process was not so hard for Roisin. She has managed to hold down her job with the mobile provider on a part time basis and is confident that her application for a grant will be successful. She was also pleasantly surprised to discover that the course fee was not around the €3,500 to €4,000 mark like she had expected, but a much more manageable €1,750. This is because UL’s Graduate Diploma in Computing is part of the Higher Education Authority’s Graduate Skills Conversion Programme (GCSP).

Created in recognition of the growing shortage of graduates with IT skills, the GCSP facilitates dozens of engineering and IT related postgraduate conversion courses available for a composite fee (€1,750 in 2008/2009) nationwide. Visit www.hea.ie for a full list of these courses, which offer remarkable value for money in relation to the lucrative and exciting careers currently available in technology.

Economic conditions could not be much more different for the career hopes of Clare and Roisin. Recent education cutbacks dealt a blow to the hopes of all teaching graduates, but Clare is optimistic that a combination of good results, her determination to succeed, and maturity will see her acquire a position. Roisin meanwhile can expect to find a range of exciting and challenging IT roles to choose from once she has graduated. One undeniable outcome is that the two women are equally highly satisfied with their decision to explore new territory by undertaking a conversion programme.