The difficult question facing school leavers is which qualification to go for.

WHAT a difference a year and a recession make. The increase in CAO applications is a sign of the increasingly uncertain times. Most of the old verities are gone, as unemployment seeps into professional areas once thought to be immune from economic vagaries.

The only remaining certainty is that a qualification of some sort will be more, not less, important in the future. The difficult question facing school leavers is which qualification to go for. They generally decide their courses on the basis of current economic trends which could well be very different by the time they graduate.

Some opt for very specific vocational courses which may not be in huge demand when they are ready to leave college. Who, for instance, could have forseen that a government would worsen the pupil-teacher ratio, effectively halting the recruitment of new teachers—a freeze that could last for years to come. Many of these new teachers may need to take a further course to top up their skill levels and make themselves more employable.

Other students opt for broad-based courses in the humanities in the hope they will be provided with the flexibility needed to adapt to changing labour market conditions. It’s surely no coincidence that applications for the arts went up by nearly 1,000 this year to 10,500.

What employers are increasingly looking for are ‘soft’ skills such as team working, communications, and presentation skills. The kind of skills that young people entering the labour force need are:

• Knowing how to access and critically analyse information. Applying knowledge to new situations.
• Being adept at cross-disciplinary work, collaborating and communicating.
• Showing self initiative, applying creativity and being skilled at problem solving and decision making.
• Being able to work independently and in teams.
• Developing entrepreneurial skills.
• Committing to life-long learning.

The changed economic situation and the changing needs of both the workplace and students pose huge challenges for higher education institutions at the very time that their resources are being curtailed.

They will be analysing this year’s trends in applications and points this year which, admittedly, send out mixed messages. Discover Science and Engineering and other government agencies will be very pleased to note that science points have increased in the NUI universities, but the campaign to encourage more engineers has not been as successful.

Applications are down very slightly and points eased in a number of courses. The figures, of course, include civil engineering, which, like most other construction-related courses, saw a fall in points this year.

The sharp reduction in the housing marketing meant less conveyancing for solicitors whose businesses were already affected by the setting up of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. This, in turn had an effect on applications - a 3.7pc decrease in first preferences for law at a time when there was an overall increase in CAO applications. Points for legal courses went down in many cases as a result.

And the recession is having another effect on students as it is robbing them of the prospect of part-time work to help fund their way through college.

With the prospect of fees or a graduate payment looming, college will be a much more expensive option in future—and those in education may not find themselves quite so recession proof.

John Walshe