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Dr Richard Watson, dean of arts in NUI Maynooth, says it is, in established fact that 45 per gent of all jobs open to graduates are looking for graduates of any discipline. ' "Job ads continuously mention interpersonal skills and communications skills. Arts graduates will have these ... as well as analytical skills. All of the clich-és are true," he says. Ms Loretta Jennings, careers officer at NUI Maynooth, says parents are often concerned about the subjects their sons and daughters want to study in their arts degree. They want to get the right mix so that a range of jobs is open to the students. Students are far better off doing well in something that they enjoy and coming out as a well-rounded graduate says Ms Jennings. UCC, UCD, NUI Galway and NUI Maynooth offer arts as a common-entry programme. While arrangements differ somewhat all the colleges afford some flexibility to first-year students when it comes to subject choice. Students can usually attend lectures in a variety of subjects before making a firm commitment. For instance, Prof. Peter Woodman, dean, of UCC's art faculty says there is an introductory week for students, followed by a two-week change-of-mind period. This approach is particularly useful when it comes to subjects such as philosophy and sociology which are not studied at 2nd level.
In TCD, students opting for the two-subject moderatorship (TROO1) apply for places to study certain subjects. Points for two-subject moderatorships last year ranged from 560 for psychology to 315 for Russian and biblical and theological studies. This approach means students study subjects of their choice from day 1. The down-side is that you need to be very sure of what you are committing yourself to, as many of the subjects are not offered at Leaving Cert. level. You must do as much research as possible before you list your choice on your CAO form.
Arts outside traditional University courses
OFTEN when students think of arts, they focus on the traditional universities. 3 colleges better known for their teacher training courses also offer arts options. St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, has a three-year BA with first-year options- in English, French, Gaeilge, geography, history, human development, maths, music, religious studies and bioscience. Bioscience is not offered as a 2nd year course.
This degree should be of particular interest to mature applicants as 30% of the places are reserved for such students. If you are a mature applicant, you should apply directly to a college before April 2nd.
There are no specific entry requirements but applicants may have completed a University foundation or VTOS course, says lecturer Ms. Brenna Clark. Others have no formal qualifications and work and life experiences are taken into consideration. Mature students do an interview and short written test in May and are contacted within one month of their interview. "Successful applicants receive wide support from the college's mature student committee and Students Services. The relatively small student,-population in St Patrick's enables the college staff to offer a high level of personal support to our mature students" says Ms Clarke.
The prospectus for Mary Immaculate College Limerick reminds us of the aim of liberal arts programmes as originally stated by Aristotle who considered that "this education and these studies exist for their own sake" as part of the pursuit of excellence in intellectual and moral activities. Subjects offered in Mary Immaculate include English, French, Gaeilge, Geography, German, History, Irish heritage studies, maths, media and communication studies, music, philosophy and religious studies.
St. Angela's College, Sligo offers an arts degree in economic and social studies. This is listed under NUI Galway in the CAO handbook (GY102). DCU, UL, the institutes of technology and the private colleges offer a variety of certificates, diploma and degrees encompassing the arts. These programmes include applied languages, music, language and cultural studies, heritage studies and social studies.
