Going to College: Green Careers

The current National Development Plan and Programme for Government have both placed a strong focus on addressing energy issues. Additionally, the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation listed energy as a research priority.

Higher education institutions will all respond to the needs of this emerging sector. Two new under-graduate courses relating to sustainable energy have recently been announced.

NUI Galway is to offer a new BE in Energy Systems Engineering in response to the identification of Ireland's future energy needs as a national priority. The new four-year honours degree will have its first intake in September and will produce professional accredited engineers, qualified to drive the emerging energy-related industries.

Graduates will be multidisciplinary engineers equipped to solve problems across the whole spectrum of energy systems. The new degree programme can be applied for in the coming months through the CAO as a "change of mind" option.

Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) has also launched a new degree programme in energy engineering, commencing in September 2009.

The programme is timely in view of the ambitious targets set out in the Government White Paper on Energy to move Ireland away from fossil fuel-based energy production to investment in renewable energy, and promote the creation of 'green-collar' jobs.

The BEng in Energy Engineering will provide graduates with the core knowledge and skills of an energy engineer together with the fundamental skill sets of a mechanical engineer.

On completion of the BEng in Energy Engineering, graduates can choose to progress to a one-year add-on programme to obtain a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Mechanical or Energy Engineering.

GMIT is offering the possibility for people, who have an Advanced Certificate-Craft in Electrical Installation as well as Ordinary Level Leaving Cert Maths, to start the course directly from second year this September. People with a Higher Certificate in a cognate discipline can also apply.

Many institutes of technology are offering such upskilling initiatives and programmes to people who find themselves unemployed, or apprentices who find themselves marooned mid-apprenticeship, in the current economic climate.