Thoughts about GMIT

ted2767 · 16-05-2011 5:21pm

Do you mind me asking what planet you've been living on these last few months?
I'm just about to finish a course in GMIT and to be honest all I feel like doing with my degree is binning it I'm straight off to do a masters at a university their programmes are far better recognised.

what_traffic · 17-05-2011 4:11pm

It has very poor bike parking facilities. (In comparison to NUIG and any decent 3rd level college) Its no wonder car parking is at a premium.

perfectisthe · 24-05-2011 9:40am

ted2767 wrote: »

Just as you know I'm currently a student in GMIT.
My opinions are totally valid, this is my second time in third level education in Ireland and in my opinion the standards in GMIT are at best average.
My statements about employers are borne out by experiences of myself and my classmates who in our final year are struggling to find employment even with excellent grades.
If you decide to disagree with me be my guest but get your facts right first.
Fact there is an issue in GMIT with cheating in assessments and students who on being found out were allowed graduate after appeal.
Fact there is an investigation being launched into this and the isssue has had fairly widespread national media coverage.
Whilst this may have happened in the engineering dept the entire college is affected by this.
So in my opinion I'd say it's fairly safe to say that the reputation of GMIT has suffered because of this, and I'm not aware of NUIG being similarily aaffected althouh I'm open to correction on that.
Are there some excellent staff in GMIT of course there are but in the wider public reputation is massively important and wheter right or wrong the whole college has been affected.
So I think I'll stand by what I said my advice to anybody thinking of attending GMIT is if they have the option of going elsewhere then take that with both hands.

I would put standards in GMIT at about average as well I think. In regards to the reputation of the whole college being smeared due to the engineering dept, well, I simply don't believe that to be true. Yes there was negative media coverage, but it was all centred aroung the engineering dept. I think people are capable of understanding that the engineering dept is an isolated incident. During my undergrad there were a large amount of people caught, and punished, for plagiarism. There was no grade inflation, or passing those who failed. People understand this. Give them a little credit.

GMIT is far from perfect, but, as someone who has been to both an NUI (at postgraduate level) and an IT, I can without hesitation say that between the two I would recommend GMIT. I have never found my GMIT qualification to be viewed in any negative fashion, by employers or other bodies of education. I recently got accepted to TCD for further postgraduate work and it was my GMIT degree they were most interested in and which ultimately won me the place.

My statements about employers are borne out by experiences of myself and my classmates who in our final year are struggling to find employment even with excellent grades.

Yeah no ****. Welcome to Ireland in 2011.

ted2767 · 24-05-2011 6:04pm

I am well aware of the current economic situation when I'm told "if you were attending a university instead of gmit you'd stand a much better chance of getting this job" I think I'll believe that being a graduate of that college may be a hinderance rather that a bonus.

perfectisthe · 24-05-2011 10:45pm

If someone actually said that to you I can understand why you take that position. I'm curious to know what context that remark was made in, could you elaborate a little more? Regardless, I feel that my point stands, and as someone who is now looking in from the outside, I feel I have some perspective, and, I can only reiterate that in my dealings with universities and employers, my GMIT degree has been nothing but beneficial to me - there has been absolutely no stigma attached to it.

I understand your position, you've had a negative experience, and it seems to have given you an extremely negative attitude towards your degree yourself. Perhaps worrying about how other people view your degree is the wrong attitude, how do YOU view your degree? Did you get a sufficient education? Do you feel qualified to do the work you've been trained to do? If you can answer yes to these questions then it doesn't matter a jot whether your degree is from GMIT, you'll do just fine and a job will come.

ted2767 · 25-05-2011 12:22am

It was said to me at an interview by one of the interviewers in a quite moment.
As for my degree its ok ar best its only saving grace is that it is externally validated by external bodies as well but if you ask me will it feature prominently on my c.v. in a few years then the answer has to be no.
I cannot understand how people are allowed to carry modules from one year onto the next, I found senior staff in the school of business extremly unhelpful and a significant number of lecturers of very poor quality.
As someone who returned as a mature student having previously attented a university I have found the whole gmit experience to be lacking.
Thats my opinion and it would take something significant to change it.

perfectisthe · 25-05-2011 11:23am

ted2767 wrote: »

It was said to me at an interview by one of the interviewers in a quite moment.

That's incredibly unprofessional.

I'm not trying to change your mind about the GMIT experience, I was a mature student as well (I'm 30), and, like I said, I would rate my experience overall as average. But, I would rate my University experience as below-average, the reality is that standards in all higher education bodies have slipped over the past four years. I'm responding to the idea that GMIT degrees have been sullied by the engineering mess, you've had a bad experience, but, overall they have not. Comments such as

all I feel like doing with my degree is binning it

devalue your degree more than anything else, be proud of your qualification, you know that you earned it.

Anyway, that's all I have to say on the matter as I'm repeating myself, good luck with your masters next year.

Galway · 27-05-2011 1:06am

ted2767 wrote: »

Do you mind me asking what planet you've been living on these last few months?
I'm just about to finish a course in GMIT and to be honest all I feel like doing with my degree is binning it I'm straight off to do a masters at a university their programmes are far better recognised.

Well I am sure you will be delighted to know that GMIT and NUIG have formed a strategic alliance which will see the sharing of facillities, programmes, teaching, research between both institutions. I have recently been chatting to a NUIG lecturer I know and they have exactly the same issues as GMIT re attendance, student performance and marks being 'upped' to avoid large scale failure in some subjects/programmes. It is just that no one at NUIG went public. Believe you me the NUIG degree of today does not contain the depth and breath of a similar degree 30 years ago.

ted2767 · 27-05-2011 10:35am

I'm not going to get into a slagging match with anyone on here about gmit you all have perfectly valid opinions about the place.
In my experience though I wouldn't reccomend the place to anyone unless they were doing hotel and catering.
I know nuig is no bed of roses and probably shares many of the same issues but public perception is massively important and the public reputation of nuig is infinetly better than gmit.
So were anyone to ask me I'd advise them to go to nuig along time before I'd say the same thing about gmit.
There are several great lecturers in gmit I've been lucky enough to have been thought by some of them I have however met many more who are incompetent, lazy and frankly not up to it.
Like I said I'm not going to get into a slagging match about this issue I've better things to do but in my opinion gmit is a dump.

mink_man · 27-05-2011 6:49pm

Engineering in NUIG is all theory, no practical, the energy systems class even came over to GMIT one day to see why we have an energy lab which inclused solar panels, heat pumps etc and they don't.

Galway · 05-06-2011 12:44am

ted2767 wrote: »

I'm not going to get into a slagging match with anyone on here about gmit you all have perfectly valid opinions about the place.
In my experience though I wouldn't reccomend the place to anyone unless they were doing hotel and catering.
I know nuig is no bed of roses and probably shares many of the same issues but public perception is massively important and the public reputation of nuig is infinetly better than gmit.
So were anyone to ask me I'd advise them to go to nuig along time before I'd say the same thing about gmit.
There are several great lecturers in gmit I've been lucky enough to have been thought by some of them I have however met many more who are incompetent, lazy and frankly not up to it.
Like I said I'm not going to get into a slagging match about this issue I've better things to do but in my opinion gmit is a dump.

Chip on shoulder syndrome, no doubt. And we are not comparing like with like either. The IoTs actually prepare people ready to go into the workplace, esp in Engineering, the same CANNOT be said of NUIG. They set up taught Masters to fill in the gaps they missed in the primary degree.

ted2767 · 06-06-2011 9:42pm

Galway wrote: »

Chip on shoulder syndrome, no doubt. And we are not comparing like with like either. The IoTs actually prepare people ready to go into the workplace, esp in Engineering, the same CANNOT be said of NUIG. They set up taught Masters to fill in the gaps they missed in the primary degree.

I'm not entering into a slagging match and the best you can come up with is that I've a chip on my shoulder?
Honestly if that is the best you can do then why not just stay quite on the subject?
By narrowing this argument to nuig v gmit you are displaying a very narrow focus lets face facts here gmit is not a first class educational institute.

Machvingtsun · 09-06-2011 2:38pm

ted2767 wrote: »

I'm not going to get into a slagging match with anyone on here about gmit you all have perfectly valid opinions about the place.
In my experience though I wouldn't reccomend the place to anyone unless they were doing hotel and catering.
I know nuig is no bed of roses and probably shares many of the same issues but public perception is massively important and the public reputation of nuig is infinetly better than gmit.
So were anyone to ask me I'd advise them to go to nuig along time before I'd say the same thing about gmit.
There are several great lecturers in gmit I've been lucky enough to have been thought by some of them I have however met many more who are incompetent, lazy and frankly not up to it.
Like I said I'm not going to get into a slagging match about this issue I've better things to do but in my opinion gmit is a dump.

Surely your only qualified to comment about the lecturers and standards in the department you were studying in. Problems with standards are the same in every third level institution across the country. At least in GMIT the problems have been brought to light and something has been done about them.

The standards in the GMIT science department are excellent with dedicated lecturers. This is my personnel experience of the last four years not conjecture or "talk".

I cant comment on any other department but for obvious reasons of oversupply of graduates the building, architecture, business courses should be avoided.

Funk It · 13-06-2011 12:49am

I had 3 great years studying in GMIT, which really helped me lay the foundations which have helped me progress to completing a Masters in a different university. I have a lot to thank GMIT for and can't recommend the place enough. being heavily involved in sport was the making of it for me, but there are plenty societies up and running which make it easy for people to meet folk.

The lecturers were tough but fair, and always had time to facilitate any questions which i found out that university lectures aren't so keen on, whom i found out prefer to have an ethos of "figure it out yourself". That's just my view from being on both sides of the fence. In GMIT i found that they actually care about you and want you to have all the success that you can.

All the best with your studies, and remember that at the end of it all, you cant blame the college if you don't put in the work, its a 2 way street.

Wingawongawoo · 15-06-2011 12:05am

Under the HETAC system, a degree is a degree no matter where you get it from. The old system of "RTCs" providing "diplomas" and unis providing "degrees" is gone, And so no distinction in the actual piece of paper you get at the end can legitimately be made by an interviewer.

The "scandal" at GMIT has IMO been blown out if all proportion, and given a slow news week at a different time could have been written about any third level in Ireland. Just so happened that GMIT was in the wrong place at the wrong time media-wise, but believe me the story could ring true in pretty much any college.

The fact is that the issue has been dealt with and if anything the standards and auditing is all the better for it at GMIT.

ted2767 · 17-06-2011 9:22am

Thats a very simplistic do you honestly think a science degree from an I.T. carry the same standing as that from a university like Trinity where there is world class research being carried out?
If so you have an awful lot to learn.

Wingawongawoo · 17-06-2011 10:14am

If you think the likes of Trinity hasn't had the same "scandals" (albeit not in the public eye) you've got a lot to learn.

Trinity has autonomy in granting it's own degrees, whereas most IoTs fall under the HETAC system. If you ask me it's more than likely that a "self-audited" system like the one at Trinity COULD be perceived as being more open to abuse than a system under proper national scrutiny.

I take your point that I may have over-simplified the "a degree is a degree" point. For sure the place you get your degree DOES come into it, but technically I am correct in say that it SHOULDN'T. Different IoTs have historically been "good" in certain areas, and GMIT has a very good reputation in the area of construction and civil engineering, certainly up to the point of the "scandal". That event should have the effect of closer auditing in the future, and eventually the performance of the graduates in th eworkplace will earn the respect of the industry if it has been tainited recently. IMO of course!

ted2767 · 19-06-2011 11:31pm

Wingawongawoo wrote: »

If you think the likes of Trinity hasn't had the same "scandals" (albeit not in the public eye) you've got a lot to learn.

Trinity has autonomy in granting it's own degrees, whereas most IoTs fall under the HETAC system. If you ask me it's more than likely that a "self-audited" system like the one at Trinity COULD be perceived as being more open to abuse than a system under proper national scrutiny.

I take your point that I may have over-simplified the "a degree is a degree" point. For sure the place you get your degree DOES come into it, but technically I am correct in say that it SHOULDN'T. Different IoTs have historically been "good" in certain areas, and GMIT has a very good reputation in the area of construction and civil engineering, certainly up to the point of the "scandal". That event should have the effect of closer auditing in the future, and eventually the performance of the graduates in th eworkplace will earn the respect of the industry if it has been tainited recently. IMO of course!

Proper national scrutiny??? I'll give you a few examples FAS, Taxi industry, HSE all under national scrutiny so I wouldn't place too much importance on that were I you.
The system in GMIT was shambolic and even lecturers are appaled at what happened and they will admit this to you if spolen to privately.
Auditing alone will not solve nothing its mostly to do with the prevailing culture in the organisation and how people behave or are allowed to behave is very difficult to change by merely auditing.

Wingawongawoo · 20-06-2011 6:57pm

Agreed. But at least with the auditing there's a chance that bad practices can be identified and addressed (exactly as happened in GMIT). If you're suggesting that auditing is a waste of time or not working properly, then I genuinely feel that you're wrong. Without auditing and public scrutiny, who knows what could be going on? I'd rather have scrutiny to highlight issues than not, even if in some cases the auditing may be coming too late.

daniels.ducks · 24-08-2011 12:28pm

Anyone here go to Letterfrack? I'm finding it very hard to get information on it! The course is Design and Technology Education.

Keelman91 · 26-08-2011 12:24pm

Hey all!, i'l be starting in gmit cluain mhuire soon enough for art and design,having a bit of a prob with a gaff though,looking for an old house r watevs,not fussy,once its cheap and not a tooatal kip,anyone in the same boat give me an ole message

sooound

Monife · 26-08-2011 12:52pm

Keelman91 wrote: »

Hey all!, i'l be starting in gmit cluain mhuire soon enough for art and design,having a bit of a prob with a gaff though,looking for an old house r watevs,not fussy,once its cheap and not a tooatal kip,anyone in the same boat give me an ole message sooound

I hadn't expected to go to GMIT so when I got the offer (5 years ago), panicked about accommodation. There are plenty of digs nearby. Check Daft. I got an ensuite room in the student accommodation, Glasan, which is right accross the road from GMIT.

Wingawongawoo · 26-08-2011 2:42pm

Monife wrote: »

I hadn't expected to go to GMIT so when I got the offer (5 years ago), panicked about accommodation. There are plenty of digs nearby. Check Daft. I got an ensuite room in the student accommodation, Glasan, which is right accross the road from GMIT.

Just in case yer man is not from Galway, it's worth pointing out that Glasan is across the road from the Dublin Road campus, and about a 20-30min walk from the Cluain Mhuire campus.

GalwaYGaLX1X · 26-08-2011 5:41pm

hated gmit with a passion, the lecturers are terrible, facilities are terrible, well the canteen is ok i suppose, gym is a rip off for what it it, its cold, rooms are tiny except for lecture halls, galway night life has gone seriously down hill in the past year! i left gmit and am now going to tallaght because it is way better! gmit graduates go nowhere i know over 15 people from 21-30 who completed business hons degree and the furthest two of them got was working in a petrol station...behind the till!!! my bother went to nuig same course already has a job in an accountancy firm!!

ARGINITE · 26-08-2011 6:02pm

I have both a B.Eng and M.Eng from GMIT and also have a job.

Keelman91 · 26-08-2011 6:07pm

Monife wrote: »

I hadn't expected to go to GMIT so when I got the offer (5 years ago), panicked about accommodation. There are plenty of digs nearby. Check Daft. I got an ensuite room in the student accommodation, Glasan, which is right accross the road from GMIT.

Yeah thats cool,i know the score with where the campuses are in relation to accoms anyway,looking to share a house or something, have already done 2 years in cork and safe to say,.i dont think student halls are for me

,thanks anyway,il keep on searching,il get something in the end sure!

Galway · 27-08-2011 8:59pm

GalwaYGaLX1X wrote: »

hated gmit with a passion, the lecturers are terrible, facilities are terrible, well the canteen is ok i suppose, gym is a rip off for what it it, its cold, rooms are tiny except for lecture halls, galway night life has gone seriously down hill in the past year! i left gmit and am now going to tallaght because it is way better! gmit graduates go nowhere i know over 15 people from 21-30 who completed business hons degree and the furthest two of them got was working in a petrol station...behind the till!!! my bother went to nuig same course already has a job in an accountancy firm!!

Mind ya head at night in 'Talla' lol

perfectisthe · 27-08-2011 9:38pm

GalwaYGaLX1X wrote: »

gmit graduates go nowhere i know over 15 people from 21-30 who completed business hons degree and the furthest two of them got was working in a petrol station...behind the till!!! my bother went to nuig same course already has a job in an accountancy firm!!

This is Ireland in 2011, most graduates can't get jobs, let alone jobs in their chosen field. Also, using your brother as one example of an NUI graduate who got a job is a bit tenuous to say the least. I say this as a graduate of both GMIT and NUI.

Diabhal Beag · 29-08-2011 11:55am

Did anybody get the welcome pack yet from GMIT? Accepted the CAO offer for the Business course and heard nothing back yet.

ratzy · 29-08-2011 3:39pm

Thinking of renting in gort na glaise on sandy road. Is it too far from gmit? is their a bus service?