Round Zero Offers

CAO Round Zero offers are due to be issued today. If you are a FETAC applicant or a mature student still awaiting an offer ensure that you keep an eye on your emails if you applied online. All applicants given Round Zero offers have until the 10th August to accept their offers, after which their place will go back into the system and may given out in subsequent CAO rounds.

Drogheda Clinics to be held for Louth County Council HEG applications

Louth County Council are holding special clinics in Drogheda where they will offer assistance to the public in completing Higher Education Grant application forms. If the course you are going to attend is Level 8 (Honours Degree) or higher and your usual residence is in County Louth you should be applying to the County Council for the grant.
Clinics will be held from 2.00 - 4.00pm Monday August 15th to Friday August 19th (inclusive).

New Night Classes site for Louth

Co. Louth VEC have launched a new website which draws together evening class provision from across their four night class centres in the county into one online facility. Co. Louth VEC offers over 200 night classes through St. Olivers Community College (Drogheda) and Drogheda Institute of Further Education in the south of the county, and O'Fiaich Institute (Dundalk) and Bush Post Primary School (Cooley) in the north of the county. There are a wide range of classes on offer from hobby type classes to fully certified courses. You can search through all these classes on the new website and also apply online for any class that may interest you. Check out http://www.louthnightclasses.ie/.

Grant Applications

Applying for a grant can be a bit of a minefield for people, particularly mature students. Aontas have written a helpful blog post "Ten things mature students need to know about student grants". The studentfinance site is also very useful as you can check your eligibility and download forms there. Louth VEC grants section are open to queries from 9 - 12 Monday to Friday and Louth County Council grants department from 9 - 11 Monday to Friday.

CAO Round A 2011

For those of you who applied to the CAO as mature students you should have received notification of offers by now. Even if you have received a letter offering you a place by a college prior to now you MUST still accept it through the CAO. All offers issued by colleges prior to the 6th July are provisional. Official offers can only be given and accepted through the CAO.

If you had been offered a place by a college and did not receive an official CAO offer, don't panic! First check that whether your offer is conditional, if it is (on the basis of leaving certificate or FETAC results) then you should expect to receive your offer through the CAO at the Round Zero stage, which is in early August. It can help to double check this information with the college admissions section. If your offer was not conditional but you did not receive notification through the CAO contact the admissions department of the college.

If you are unsure what to do or have concerns relating to your CAO application feel free to contact us via the form to the right or at 041 9842030.

Grant Forms Available Now!

Hi everyone
Grant forms are now available on http://www.studentfinance.ie/.
It is now possible to apply online if you are applying to the VECs in Louth, Meath, Monaghan and Dublin.
It is also possible to apply online if your awarding authority is Meath County Council. For those of you applying to Louth, Monaghan or Fingal County Councils you will have to apply through the paper version which can also be downloaded from the site.
It is advisable to start the process of applying for your grants as soon as possible as we expect there to be a very large number applying this year.
If you are having any difficulties with completing the application forms contact us through the form on the right or at 041 9842030.

VTOS Graduations

Congratulations to VTOS students graduating today and Tuesday. We would like to wish you all the best for the future and to remind you that we are here all summer to offer support and assistance with the completion of funding applications forms.

If you are considering participating in a VEC programme such as VTOS, or even just thinking about returning to education, call in to see us or make an appointment by filling out the form on the right.

Springboard Closing Date

The closing date for Dundalk IT's Springboard courses is today, so if you are thnking of applying you'd better do so today!

Some of the other colleges who are offering Springboard programmes (and many are accessible from County Louth - DCU, Blanchardstown IT, DIT, etc) have later closing dates - check out http://www.bluebrick.ie/ to see if there is one that interests you!

New Courses offered by Meath Partnership

Meath Partnership have a number of upcoming courses aimed at rural entrepreneurs in County Meath.

Further information available here.

Adult Education Information Sessions

There are two information sessions being held in Dundalk this month.

The first is the Be Somebody Fair being organised by Louth Leader Partnership's Outreach Project with the aim of promoting opportunities that exist for unemployed people in training, education and work. This is being held in the Redeemer Centre on 20th June from 9.30am - 1pm.

The second is the Adult Education Information Morning, hosted by Louth VEC's Adult Education Service, this will showcase the adult education options available in Dundalk. It is being held in the Adult Education Centre, Chapel Street, Dundalk (the old ESB building) on the 23rd June from 11am - 1pm.

Come along to either of these events to find out what opportunities might be available for you locally.

State Exams

Good luck to all our learners who are commencing their Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate exams today!!

Tips on preparing for your exams.

For those of you doing Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate exams you are coming up to the peak of the mountain. However, this last push can be hardest part of the climb.

The Irish Independent suggest ten top tips to get through this last preparation period.
Click here to read their top tips.

Good luck to you all and remember, your tutors and the laegis service are here to help, don't struggle in silence, contact us if you need any assistance.

Springboard Programme launched

The Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, today launched the new 'Springboard' initiative which will provide 6,000 new places on higher education programmes for unemployed people in areas such as digital marketing, engineering and medical devices. For further information on the courses or to apply for a Springboard initiative programme go to http://www.bluebrick.ie/ and select the 'Springboard' option.

Application Date for DIFE

Hi Everyone

You should note that Drogheda Institute of Further Education (DIFE) is accepting applications for May Interviews up to and including 10th May 2011, in relation to FE/PLC courses starting in September.  

Interviews will be held in late August/early September if places are available, it is advisable to apply for the Mayo interviews as there may be a possibility that there will be no places left for your chosen course in September.

Louth County Council Bursary

Louth County Council are offering their educational bursary for undergraduate students again this year. This educational bursary is available for undergraduate honours degree level courses in throughout the island of Ireland (Level 8) and level 6/7/8 courses in Dundalk I.T.

Two Bursaries of €2,540 each will be awarded to successful applicants in each of the
three Local Authority areas for each academic year.These bursaries provide an opportunity to study at third level to persons who may not be in a position to undertake a course of study due to serious disadvantage.

For further information and application forms click here.

Free Return to Study Course in Louth

• Thinking of returning to education on a part-time basis?
• Would you like to develop a new interest?
• Would you like to meet new people?
• Would you like an introduction to Computers, Sociology, Psychology, Business Studies, Communications, Art and Study Skills?
• Improve your maths?

County Louth VEC's BTEI programme is running a Return to Study programme for 3 hours per day, 3 days per week for 6 weeks starting in May.

This course is free for adults with less than Upper Second Level education (Leaving Certificate or equivalent) and for adults in receipt of social welfare (or their adult dependents).

For further information call 041 9842030 or fill in the contact form on the right of this page.

Temporary Clerical Officer Positions

The Public Service is currently recruiting temporary clerical staff to fill positions around the country, including the North East in counties Louth, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan.

For further information go to http://www.publicjobs.ie/ or click here.

Mature Student Information Website

http://www.maturestudents.ie/ is a great 'one stop shop' for mature student information, whether you are trying to find contact details for an access officer, find out what the mature application process is for a particular college or find out about access courses for individual colleges.

Their Admission Requirements Summary is particularly useful as finally we have a single source of information that pulls together all the different mature student entry routes for colleges nationwide. Click here to view the summary brochure.

DIFE Open Days

Drogheda Institute of Further Education are holding an Open Evening on Thursday 17th February from 7.00-9.00pm and an Open Day on Friday 18th February from 9.00am -1.00pm. This is an opportunity for you to speak with programme staff and co-ordinators, ask questions about the courses you are interested in and also to get a feel for the college itself.
Going to the Open Day also allows you to make your face 'known' to the people who may be interviewing you for a place, so be aware of making a good impression!!

Mature Student Late Application Places - NUIM

NUI Maynooth have announced that they have extended their deadline for mature student applicants for some of their courses to March 15th. Click here for further information on which courses are still open.

You should apply directly to NUIM through their online application facility available here. If you have not already applied to the CAO then you must also apply through their late application facility which opens at 12.00 on 8th March.

Notice Re: Applications to Ballyfermot College of Further Education

If you are interested in applying to BCFE for any of their 2011-2012 programmes you should note that the closing date has been brought forward to Wednesday 16th February 2011, not Wednesday 2nd March as previously published by the college.

This is because they have had such a high volume of applications this year. If you miss this deadline date check out their website http://www.bcfe.ie/ after the 17th February where they will post the names of any courses that still have places available.

Mature Student Information Evenings

 Hi Everyone

Welcome to 2011!

Now that it is January we are really moving into Third Level application time as the CAO closing date looms on the 1st February. In our last post we discussed how research is key to your CAO application.

Some of the main Universities and colleges are holding CAO information evenings some of which are specifically for mature applicants. Attending these is a great opportunity for you to get some really good quality information about your course choices, the college itself and applying as a mature student from those who have the 'inside track'. These information sessions include:

• Dublin City University:                        11th January 2011 (7 - 9pm)
• Dublin Institute of Technology:            11th January 2011 (2.30 - 7pm)
• IADT Dun Laoghaire:                         11th January 2011 (4 - 8pm)
• NUI Maynooth:                                  12th January 2011 (7.30 - 9.30pm
• Trinity College:                                   13th January 2011 (4.30 - 7.30pm)

Further information is available on the individual college websites and Qualifax.