Green Cert part-time and distance enrolments for 2021 at Teagasc colleges are projected to be the highest intake over the past decade other than 2015, the authority has said.
Somewhere in the region of 1,500 to 1,600 enrolments are projected for the coming year, Teagasc figures show.
In an opening statement provided by Teagasc’s director of knowledge transfer Dr. Stan Lalor to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and the Marine yesterday evening (Tuesday, May 25), Lalor outlined his organisation’s work on higher education programmes.
“Graduates of Teagasc Level 6 Advanced Certificate programmes and the Level 6 Specific Purpose Certificate in Farming programme meet the ‘Young Trained Farmer’ educational requirements [Green Cert] for schemes and measures directed at young farmers,” Lalor said in his statement.
The director noted that in excess of 90% of further education delivery is directed towards Level 5 and 6 agricultural programmes.
It was pointed out that the Level 5 and 6 agricultural programmes are delivered through three options:
- Full-time, through colleges;
- Part-time, through colleges and advisory regions; and
- Distance, through colleges and advisory regions.
Full-time Green Cert
Highlighting that full-time courses are in the main directed at school-leavers, Lalor said that, following a dip in the early 2000s, full-time agricultural programme enrolments recovered “very strongly”, recovering fully by 2010.
He noted that there was a peak in full-time enrolments between 2014 and 2015, driven by exceptional demand, adding:
“In recent years annual enrolments have been in the region of 1,000 which has matched the demand arising.
“Applications for the 2021/2022 academic year are strong at this point but the actual acceptance levels will not be clear until late August.”
Part-time and distance Green cert
Turning to part-time and distance Green Cert programmes, Lalor said that such courses “cater for those who did not pursue full-time agricultural education routes on leaving school but subsequently wish to attain a Green Cert education”.
“Courses are delivered on a national basis at up to 30 locations subject to demand. In the years prior to 2014 overall annual enrolments for these programmes were typically around 400 – 500,” he said.
“Demand rapidly increased from 2014 onwards with exceptional enrolment spikes occurring in the period 2015 to 2017.
“Annual enrolments continue to be very robust for part-time/distance Green Cert courses and were in the range 1,100 to 1,300 over recent years.
Enrolments for 2021 are projected to be in the range 1,500 to 1,600. If realised this will be highest intake over the past decade other than 2015.
Turning to staffing and Green Cert teaching positions, the director said:
“Over the period 2014 to 2019, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine [DAFM] sanctioned Teagasc recruitment of 97 temporary two-year contract education posts to facilitate the levels of enrolments indicated above.
“In spring 2021, DAFM sanctioned a further 20 contract posts of which 15 have been allocated to the northwest/northeast to meet on-going high levels of demand in those areas.
“Staff will be recruited for the majority of these temporary posts during
2021 with the remainder by early 2022,” Lalor concluded.