Let a tertiary degree take you on the right path

Tertiary degrees offer students the chance to study for an undergraduate degree without having to go through the traditional points system. Instead, students begin learning in local further education and training centres and then progress (usually in the second or third year) to a higher education institution.

Tertiary degrees have a different entry process, but in the end, students graduate from the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) with the same level 7 or level 8 NFQ degree.

The National Tertiary Office (NTO) was established in 2022, to coordinate and support the development of policy concerning further and higher education progression pathways for students. Their aim is to expand access to higher education for all students and help to take the focus away from the points race.

“In 2024, there was an increase of 68% on the previous year in student enrolment into tertiary degrees with over 220 students across 19 different tertiary programmes starting their journey to their dream degree,” says Tanya Jones, deputy director of the National Tertiary Office.

“New tertiary degrees were offered in mental health nursing, social work, tourism and hospitality, public health, and mobile and web computing.

“There are also plans to extend the tertiary offer to students in agricultural science [in the future],” says Tanya.

Tertiary degrees are offered by 14 ETBs over 19 Further Education and Training (FET) campuses, partnering with six HEIs over 11 campuses. This means students can start the pathway locally, with progression to the HEI (which might be further away).

There is a guaranteed progression, subject to passing the exams, into an undergraduate degree. That progression is supported by visits or lectures at the HEI while at the ETB level so that students know what to expect when they move on to higher levels of study.

Students Isabel Rafter and Evian Holt share their experiences of tertiary degrees and the benefits they have gained from continuing their education.

Evian Holt – 2nd year student in immersive media production at BIFE

Growing up, Evian was always interested in gaming and loved watching movies. When he left school two years ago, he felt he’d messed up his CAO choices. Evian didn’t get his first choice, and his second choice was a course at Dundalk Institute of Technology which would have meant commuting for over four hours a day.

“I got enough points for my first preference, but I didn’t get the place because there were too many people applying and only 24 places. The problem was I didn’t set up my second choice correctly. I was getting advice from my career guidance teacher, and I remember her saying to me, ‘are you sure you could go to Dundalk?’ I was pretty naive and didn’t do enough research,” admits Evian.

“Once he realised the commute wasn’t possible and accommodation wasn’t financially feasible, he didn’t know what to do,” says Evian, who hails from Bray, Co Wicklow.

“I felt very overwhelmed and trapped. I was worried about what to do, would I have to defer to next year, or not do any course at all as it was just unfeasible,” adds Evian.

Don’t believe everything is over if you don’t get your first choice. If you’re restricted by travel or finance don’t give up

“Then I realised I applied for a 3D game design course at Bray Institute of Further Education (BIFE) three months before the Leaving Cert, I had a place there, as a backup plan,” he says.

Because the tertiary degree application didn’t require points, Evian could begin his studies at BIFE, while living at home. At the same time, he could still pursue his dream career in gaming development.

Evian is now considering all the options which his course could open up for him in the future. He has enjoyed filmmaking, working with classmates on projects from start to finish and showing his family the final edits at home.

Evian is also exploring options for Erasmus and a work placement – he says the route to his degree has given him as many, if not more, opportunities than others who went down the CAO route, and he’ll have the same qualification at the end of it.

For anyone worried about their Leaving Certificate points or applying to colleges, Evian has the following advice:

“Don’t believe everything is over if you don’t get your first choice. If you’re restricted by travel or finance don’t give up. I felt very low at that point when I was in that position and didn’t know how to proceed.”

For anyone in a similar situation, he recommends using courses as building blocks in terms of further education to get into a level 8 degree.

“It’s just taking a different route around, instead of the straight line through the CAO,” he says.

Isabel Rafter – 2nd year student in software development at Portlaoise Institute

After starting a software degree in Thurles, Isobel found out she was expecting a child, and during a difficult pregnancy she left the course.

“I tried to go back, and then I got pregnant again. So it was my family circumstances that forced me out of college. I had it in the back of my head that I’d love to go back, but I just couldn’t afford to do the first two years again. I trained as a personal trainer, but I knew my heart was in software,” says Isabel.

She then came across an advert for a software course in Portlaoise, which caught her attention, as her children were then aged 19, 14, 12 and 10.

“I was really surprised, I saw that it was two years of a degree in Portlaoise, and it was free. I realised I could do that and get a bus. When I was in Thurles, I was hitchhiking to college as I’m from Rathdowney in Laois. When you’re in a rural area, it can be hard to access education,” adds Isabel.

There have been so many positives to this course. You do find your voice because it is much easier to ask a question in a smaller class

The course runs from 9am until 4pm which allows her to be home in the evening with her younger children. She also has half days on Thursday and Friday.

“There have been so many positives to this course. You do find your voice because it is much easier to ask a question in a smaller class.

“I am at the age where I’m not as intimidated by a college environment as some of the younger people might be. I could see this being a big benefit to younger people finishing school, who are a bit nervous or anxious about going to college,” says Isabel.

She is set to progress to SETU in Carlow next September. “A career change at any age is difficult, but this makes it a little bit easier. For me at this stage of my life, I feel like my children see me studying and it sets a good example,” says Isabel.

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