Kildalton

Paul Hennessy, principal of Kildalton Agricultural College, says applications for Kildalton are up very slightly – there were 208 last year, while offer letters have gone out to 221 students this year. He says applications came in very strong in the three weeks before the deadline in May.

Paul explains that students must pay a deposit (an admin fee of €100 that is non-refundable) to secure their place and they must confirm it in the third week of August. You can never be certain of numbers on the courses until people confirm their places after the CAO offers come out. Paul says that 170-190 people will pay their deposit in the next fortnight, but only 130-140 of those will actually take a place: “I expect 40% of those who’ve applied will take CAO offers.”

Paul is expecting to have the same numbers as 2016. Kildalton is fully closed now in terms of taking applications for its agriculture courses – any enquiries the college receives are being sent to other colleges.

Pallaskenry

Derek O’Donoghue, principal of Pallaskenry Agricultural College, explains that there is a central application system in Teagasc where students can apply to multiple colleges to do the Green Cert. For example, even if a student is determined to go to Kildalton, they will often apply to all the colleges so they have a back-up option. This is one of the reasons why Pallaskenry expects to have 50-55 acceptances this year, even though the college has made offers to 100 students. Derek says Pallakenry is “down 20% on the number of students we’re making offers to” and this is “broadly an issue of concern”.

Gurteen

Mike Pearson, principal of Gurteen College, says there are less applicants for the full-time Level 5 Certificate in Agriculture course (the first step towards the Green Cert) in Gurteen College this year, but that within that figure there are fewer multiple applicants.

After completing the Level 5 Certificate in Agriculture, students have a choice to move on to the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Agriculture or complete just 40 more credits to meet the requirements for the Green Cert. Mike says Gurteen now has record numbers choosing to do the advanced certificate rather than completing the 40 credits. While Mike is expecting a slight drop in students coming in to the college to do the full-time Level 5 Certificate in Agriculture, he says that overall numbers are not a concern at Gurteen College. Gurteen has set a target of registering 80 students for the part-time Green Cert course and 120 students for the distance learning course. Three new lecturers have been appointed at the college to deal with the numbers on these courses. “We have 15 courses and 15 groups of students,” says Mike. “I am not concerned about a small drop in numbers in one course – and I can’t tell you it’s a definite drop yet. I think the idea of numbers dropping is a bit of a non-story.”

Mike has seen it all in his time in Gurteen: “People get very locked up in history. I came to Ireland in 2000. There were 80 students when I arrived. It dropped to 24 in 2006 and then reached a peak of 100 in 2011, 2012 and 2013. It has dropped back again since.”

Mike points out that Gurteen’s niche is practical education and that practical education is critical to the industry. “Ag colleges are integral to the future of Irish agriculture,” he says.

Mike adds that Gurteen College is being supported by Teagasc, “but we do need significant capital investment. At the moment, Gurteen is investing €1.5m in infrastructure and we’re getting a bank lend.”

Ballyhaise

John Kelly, who is principal of Ballyhaise College, says demand for the Green Cert is very similar to last year: “I don’t see any difference compared with last year.” Although he notes applications came in a bit slower this year. John expects there will be 120 students beginning on the Level 5 Green Cert programme this year, but he cannot predict exactly, as it depends on how many students accept their offers.

Mountbellew

Tom Burke, who is principal at Mountbellew Agricultural College, says he doesn’t know what numbers are going to be like this year. “Last year figures were up 10-12 more than previous years. During August you get more people applying.” He gauges there will be between 80-100 first years starting on the degree programme and approximately 80 on the Level 5 Certificate in Agriculture (first step towards the Green Cert). “We are still taking applications up to the last day. That’s the way things go.” CL