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Higher Certificate in Science in Computing in Applications & Support

  • 12-10-2011 1:07pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 73 ✭✭


    Before I start I just want to declare that I DO realise that I am too late for the above named course.

    I'm looking to do a not too basic course in Computers that has a ready made and well laid out path to further levels ie the Hons Degree. I saw on other posts that verified NCI folks keep an eye on here and I'm hoping they can help. Hearing from them would be great, also from people who have previously completed or on the path I am planning for myself.

    The couple of questions I have are:

    Overall difficulty of the course?: I've always had an interest computers and since I finished college/established my career path I really regret not doing a computer course initially. Is it going to be overly difficult for an intelligent person who has zero experience in this field. This ties into my next question.....

    Course workload; I plan to study at night as I currently work fulltime in a unrelated area I'm wondering how much time is required for home study/revision. (I still want to retain some sort of social life too :o)
    Side note - I've previously completed a years night time course so I know exactly the demands of travel and actually class attendance)

    Study progression: On completion of the higher cert and deciding to join year 3 of the honours degree would I be far behind/less knowledgable in the course subject as someone who decided to just to the Honours degree from the outset. (I plan to do the higher cert to ensure I like the subjects/computer area. I will stick out a two year program if I dont like it after semester 1 but a four year course would be a different story).


Comments

  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,986 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    Do you have a primary degree already?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 73 ✭✭Brewie


    Moonbeam wrote: »
    Do you have a primary degree already?


    I've got a BA in Accounting & Finance (Honours)


  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,986 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    I asked because it might be better to look at post grad course then rather then undergrad?

    Nci have a few pgd and masters in computer related disciplines.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 73 ✭✭Brewie


    Would I not be totally lost if I went to do a masters in a field such as this without any previous studying or experience...

    Is it possible to do a masters in a totally unrelated subject/area with zero experience aswell?


  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,986 Mod ✭✭✭✭Moonbeam


    Yup!
    It depends on the masters though.
    Have a look at a few of them and it will tell you what previous experience etc is needed.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 73 ✭✭Brewie


    Had a quick look through the pgd's and not eligible (seriously doubt I'd be incapable of completing them anyway). Looking more for something totally different just like the course mentioned.

    I kind of enjoy studying too so its a part hobby and part potential profession change.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    If you're intelligent you'll get by fine with no prior experience, they start from square one! I started the degree in computing course as a 25 year old mature student this year. Now I have a good amount of prior experience but no formal education in the subjects, and I'm getting on fine, as is my friend who has no prior experience, just a good head on him. Do the two years, they'll fly, and see what you see from there!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,009 ✭✭✭skimpydoo


    Moonbeam wrote: »
    Yup!
    It depends on the masters though.
    Have a look at a few of them and it will tell you what previous experience etc is needed.
    You could do the Cert in Cloud Computing and if that goes well move onto the course I am on Post Grad in Cloud Computing.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16 Dyl1991


    its not hard at all if you have a bit of intelligence about you, which you must have after finishing one course.

    im not too sure on the evening workload, but the full time isnt much if you do the stuff as you get it, and not leave it for ages and let it pile up.

    you wont be behind whatsoever, the first 2 years of BSc is the exact same as the entire HCC course, they mirror each other exactly.

    I did the HCC, and am now in year 3 of the BSc, in case you wondered.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭Nemothefish


    @ Brewie

    STAY AWAY FROM NCI.... go some where else... STAY AWAY....

    I'm on the pgcert in cloud computing... in NCI and its run by 3 year olds... seriously... I picked the course because it looked impressive on-line and it was part of springboard... but that's where my prase for this course ends.. They advertised the course as a point of entry in to the Cloud computing industry, and that you dont nead a programming backgroud.... they lie...

    anyway I don't want to make this a rant about my course... , I'm also a student in Kevin St... there are pro's and con's to both but... NCI will put you in to a huge class, and try to shock you with 70+ students in your class and 630-1030 evening lectures... with 2-3 differnt subjects a night... DIT has you in 630/7 - 930 with one lecture a night... the classes are smaller, and the lectuers are more accomidating to your needs...

    N

    PM me if you want more info


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    @ Brewie

    STAY AWAY FROM NCI.... go some where else... STAY AWAY....

    I'm on the pgcert in cloud computing... in NCI and its run by 3 year olds... seriously... I picked the course because it looked impressive on-line and it was part of springboard... but that's where my prase for this course ends.. They advertised the course as a point of entry in to the Cloud computing industry, and that you dont nead a programming backgroud.... they lie...

    anyway I don't want to make this a rant about my course... , I'm also a student in Kevin St... there are pro's and con's to both but... NCI will put you in to a huge class, and try to shock you with 70+ students in your class and 630-1030 evening lectures... with 2-3 differnt subjects a night... DIT has you in 630/7 - 930 with one lecture a night... the classes are smaller, and the lectuers are more accomidating to your needs...

    N

    PM me if you want more info
    I'm in a full time class of 80 and it's not a problem, unless you need someone to hold your hand. 8 people or 80 people, they're still going to teach you the same stuff.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭Nemothefish


    Hand holding is one thing... but

    a first lecture on JSript and they start talking about fibonachi... is not fair on a class who dont even know what an If/Else statement is or does... i know its a level 9 but... advertised as "No previous experiance neaded..."

    explain that to me.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    Hand holding is one thing... but

    a first lecture on JSript and they start talking about fibonachi... is not fair on a class who dont even know what an If/Else statement is or does... i know its a level 9 but... advertised as "No previous experiance neaded..."

    explain that to me.

    Ok.
    Entry Requirements

    A second class honours Level 8 degree in a related area.

    anyone that didn't know what an if/else statement is should most definitely not have been there. At no point it a postgrad course advertised as needing no prior experience.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 96 ✭✭Nemothefish


    There is a Nurse on the course... there are people from a construction backgroud... while nurseing is science it is not programming


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    There is a Nurse on the course... there are people from a construction backgroud... while nurseing is science it is not programming
    And how is that a "related area"? You're slating the course based on nothing.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭clubcrown


    Adam wrote: »
    And how is that a "related area"? You're slating the course based on nothing.

    It seems NCI accepted people with any degree at all - not related degrees. They should have *only* accepted people with engineering or electronics degrees, or people with prior industry experience (like me)..........but they didn't. Pretty much everybody who applied was let in. Some weren't even interviewed to see if they would be able to cope with the content.

    So you end up with a bunch of people on a level 9 course who really shouldn't be on it, and will probably not finish the course, alongside people who can cope if they work hard, and also some people who can cope quite easily because of their past experience.

    So Nemo is entirely correct to slag the college here - there are other issues with the course content, but basically the problem here is that they pretty much let anyone who could pay join the course, hence a nurse, a pharmacist, people from construction industry, people who were previously working on non-IT helpdesks, etc etc.

    The problem is that the entire class gets dragged down to the lowest level and everything gets delayed or dumbed down to that level.

    To the OP; if you don't have prior experience, I would suggest getting on the cert course rather than the postgrad. You may struggle otherwise.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    clubcrown wrote: »
    It seems NCI accepted people with any degree at all - not related degrees. They should have *only* accepted people with engineering or electronics degrees, or people with prior industry experience (like me)..........but they didn't. Pretty much everybody who applied was let in. Some weren't even interviewed to see if they would be able to cope with the content.

    So you end up with a bunch of people on a level 9 course who really shouldn't be on it, and will probably not finish the course, alongside people who can cope if they work hard, and also some people who can cope quite easily because of their past experience.

    So Nemo is entirely correct to slag the college here - there are other issues with the course content, but basically the problem here is that they pretty much let anyone who could pay join the course, hence a nurse, a pharmacist, people from construction industry, people who were previously working on non-IT helpdesks, etc etc.

    The problem is that the entire class gets dragged down to the lowest level and everything gets delayed or dumbed down to that level.

    To the OP; if you don't have prior experience, I would suggest getting on the cert course rather than the postgrad. You may struggle otherwise.
    Who are they to tell someone they can't do the course? I'm sure not everyone is completely lost, and not everyone has extensive experience. For all we know, they were told exactly what the course would be like and chose to do it anyway. We see people going in to third level courses every year that are way out of their depth and realise very suddenly that the course is not for them. My only point is it's unfair to blame it on the college when we don't know what went between them and the applicants.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭clubcrown


    Adam wrote: »
    Who are they to tell someone they can't do the course? I'm sure not everyone is completely lost, and not everyone has extensive experience. For all we know, they were told exactly what the course would be like and chose to do it anyway. We see people going in to third level courses every year that are way out of their depth and realise very suddenly that the course is not for them. My only point is it's unfair to blame it on the college when we don't know what went between them and the applicants.

    Ok, with all due respect, unless you're actually *on* the course, then you don't really know what you're talking about. I am on the course and I know exactly "what went on between them and the applicants". I'm not making this stuff up.

    I already said there are a bunch of people finding it easy, and another bunch who will get there with hard work (me, for one :-) Its the people who are actually lost that I'm on about.

    NCI allowed people onto this course who were clearly not going to be able to complete it. You find that information out by interviewing people, which only happened for some. They should have recommended those people a place on the cert rather than a level 9 course. Then everyone would be happy.

    As far as I can see its a money grab from NCI, but hey, whats new? :o

    Anyway this is gone way off topic for the OP. I'm not sure why you're even arguing the point here. Wait a minute, you're not actually the NCI president, are you? :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    clubcrown wrote: »
    Ok, with all due respect, unless you're actually *on* the course, then you don't really know what you're talking about. I am on the course and I know exactly "what went on between them and the applicants". I'm not making this stuff up.

    I already said there are a bunch of people finding it easy, and another bunch who will get there with hard work (me, for one :-) Its the people who are actually lost that I'm on about.

    NCI allowed people onto this course who were clearly not going to be able to complete it. You find that information out by interviewing people, which only happened for some. They should have recommended those people a place on the cert rather than a level 9 course. Then everyone would be happy.

    As far as I can see its a money grab from NCI, but hey, whats new? :o

    Anyway this is gone way off topic for the OP. I'm not sure why you're even arguing the point here. Wait a minute, you're not actually the NCI president, are you? :D
    I'm not, luckily for you! :P

    I'm not on the course, I'm a mature student in the Computing course, and I simply believe people will do what they want to do. At the end of the day NCI obviously aren't going to turn anyone away if the places are there, and I think it's the individuals responsibility to research the course that's right for them. There are plenty of people that are lost in my course already, and the dropout rate will be high, i don't blame that on the college, and this is in a course that really did start from square one! And it's on that note that I too return from off topic by reiterating what I said to the OP. If you're smart enough, you'll have no problems at all in undergrad!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭clubcrown


    Adam wrote: »
    I'm not, luckily for you! :P

    I'm not on the course, I'm a mature student in the Computing course, and I simply believe people will do what they want to do. At the end of the day NCI obviously aren't going to turn anyone away if the places are there, and I think it's the individuals responsibility to research the course that's right for them. There are plenty of people that are lost in my course already, and the dropout rate will be high, i don't blame that on the college, and this is in a course that really did start from square one! And it's on that note that I too return from off topic by reiterating what I said to the OP. If you're smart enough, you'll have no problems at all in undergrad!


    Good luck with your course. People did research the course in advance, of course they did, but its not panned out that way............lots of things changed, like how they cut our lab hours from week one, gave us one lab assistant for a class of 70 people and changed the order of the modules around so we have complete novices faced with learning javascript (and html/css of course), ruby and C# in 3 months, none of which was set out in the original course description.................

    Suffice to say all is not sweetness and light in our course, and when a college tells you before day one that no prior development experience is required, you can understand why people are pissed off with them for misleading students. A lot of what is in the original course description, and a lot of what we were told before we started, has simply not happened that way. That is not fair on students, full stop. Already we've had a class meeting with the dean and several lectures have been disrupted because people have no clue whats happening, so this is a real issue.

    I bet you one thing though - they will run things properly next year.

    Anyway...........back to my rails project ;)

    Edit: btw, this is a postgrad one year course, not undergrad. Time is a factor.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    I hear ya, there's clearly some huge underlying issues with that particular course! I only spoke up as I'm finding our course quite good so far, and I don't think the college should be completely disregarded, which the OP might do if all he heard was one very bad review! Good luck to you too, and thanks!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 621 ✭✭✭Barack Obama


    Adam wrote: »
    I'm not, luckily for you! :P

    I'm not on the course, I'm a mature student in the Computing course, and I simply believe people will do what they want to do. At the end of the day NCI obviously aren't going to turn anyone away if the places are there, and I think it's the individuals responsibility to research the course that's right for them. There are plenty of people that are lost in my course already, and the dropout rate will be high, i don't blame that on the college, and this is in a course that really did start from square one! And it's on that note that I too return from off topic by reiterating what I said to the OP. If you're smart enough, you'll have no problems at all in undergrad!

    Adam - you're 25. Hardly a mature student. Posting statement's like needing "someone to hold your hand" in response to someone that is actually *on* the course and giving their experiences of how badly the course is being run comes across as patronising.

    I am taking the Postgrad Diploma course in Cloud Computing with NCI and I can confirm that it is a complete mess - I would not recommend it to anyone in it's current format. I have a degree in IT and 10 years experience in my field so I'm not too bad. There are people with zero background in IT on the course and they are really struggling - the course(s) should NOT have been sold as applicable to people with a degree in other areas and no experience in IT.
    Adam wrote: »
    I'm not, luckily for you!

    I'm not on the course, I'm a mature student in the Computing course, and I simply believe people will do what they want to do. At the end of the day NCI obviously aren't going to turn anyone away if the places are there, and I think it's the individuals responsibility to research the course that's right for them. There are plenty of people that are lost in my course already, and the dropout rate will be high, i don't blame that on the college, and this is in a course that really did start from square one! And it's on that note that I too return from off topic by reiterating what I said to the OP. If you're smart enough, you'll have no problems at all in undergrad!

    You are incorrect when you say that NCI will not turn anyone away if the places are available - postgraduate places should only be offered to people who have the academic standard (2nd class honours degree) or professional experience.

    These are postgraduate, level 9 courses and much more difficult then undergraduate courses.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    Adam - you're 25. Hardly a mature student. Posting statement's like needing "someone to hold your hand" in response to someone that is actually *on* the course and giving their experiences of how badly the course is being run comes across as patronising.

    I am taking the Postgrad Diploma course in Cloud Computing with NCI and I can confirm that it is a complete mess - I would not recommend it to anyone in it's current format. I have a degree in IT and 10 years experience in my field so I'm not too bad. There are people with zero background in IT on the course and they are really struggling - the course(s) should NOT have been sold as applicable to people with a degree in other areas and no experience in IT.



    You are incorrect when you say that NCI will not turn anyone away if the places are available - postgraduate places should only be offered to people who have the academic standard (2nd class honours degree) or professional experience.

    These are postgraduate, level 9 courses and much more difficult then undergraduate courses.
    So pointing out my age and telling me I'm "hardly a mature student" isn't patronizing? Well done there.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,087 ✭✭✭Clanket


    I'd have to agree with Adam. It's up to people to decide if a course is for them. NCI shouldn't have to evaluate every student and whether they should be on the course.

    Shame about the problems on the course but it is a new one and they do take time to bed in.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭clubcrown


    Clanket wrote: »
    I'd have to agree with Adam. It's up to people to decide if a course is for them. NCI shouldn't have to evaluate every student and whether they should be on the course.

    Shame about the problems on the course but it is a new one and they do take time to bed in.

    Read the thread more carefully. They were meant to evaluate the non-IT students in advance, that's the whole point. Only some got evaluated and interviewed - like me for example. The rest were just accepted without even talking to anyone in NCI first. Hence why so many people are struggling.

    Also this is a very expensive course, its not an undergrad course, its almost equivalent to doing a masters. And because its part time there is no student grant or BTEA or any support at all for students. So the college needed to get things right from the start, its a big big investment for students.

    So you would expect that they would vet/interview students - because they said they would - and that they would get the course content right. They've done neither, and they've been changing things on the fly as the months have passed.

    Maybe believe the people who are actually sitting the course next time, yeah? I'm sure NCI have many fine courses, but this one is a disaster so far.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 621 ✭✭✭Barack Obama


    Clanket wrote: »
    I'd have to agree with Adam. It's up to people to decide if a course is for them. NCI shouldn't have to evaluate every student and whether they should be on the course.

    Shame about the problems on the course but it is a new one and they do take time to bed in.

    I completely agree - we all hope that the NCI learn from this and run a better course next year. On paper it looks excellent and the content is bang up to date - imo, a lot better then other MSc courses from larger institutions.

    But again, you are missing the point. NCI SHOULD evaluate every application for a level 9 course and offers should only be made to suitable students. Here's the prospectus - have a look at the entry requirements -
    http://www.ncirl.ie/Programmes_Courses/Postgraduate/Postgraduate-Diploma-in-Science-in-Cloud-Computing-PGDCLOUDNCI1


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,087 ✭✭✭Clanket


    clubcrown wrote: »
    Read the thread more carefully. They were meant to evaluate the non-IT students in advance, that's the whole point. Only some got evaluated and interviewed - like me for example. The rest were just accepted without even talking to anyone in NCI first. Hence why so many people are struggling.

    Also this is a very expensive course, its not an undergrad course, its almost equivalent to doing a masters. And because its part time there is no student grant or BTEA or any support at all for students. So the college needed to get things right from the start, its a big big investment for students.

    So you would expect that they would vet/interview students - because they said they would - and that they would get the course content right. They've done neither, and they've been changing things on the fly as the months have passed.

    Maybe believe the people who are actually sitting the course next time, yeah? I'm sure NCI have many fine courses, but this one is a disaster so far.

    The thread above mentions nothing about this (bolded above). If that's true and NCI specifically said they would evaluate people before allowing them on the course then that's wrong. However, if it was me and they told me thay would evaluate me, I wouldn't have started the course without an evaluation.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭clubcrown


    Clanket wrote: »
    The thread above mentions nothing about this (bolded above). If that's true and NCI specifically said they would evaluate people before allowing them on the course then that's wrong. However, if it was me and they told me thay would evaluate me, I wouldn't have started the course without an evaluation.

    eh....yeah it does, in both my first two posts. :rolleyes:

    Anybody funded by springboard is having their fees paid by the taxpayer. Its incumbent on any colleges participating in the scheme to ensure that the correct people get on the correct courses. And that the courses are properly run.

    The last thing you want is for springboard to pay big fees for people to take postgraduate or masters courses and then for some of those people to fail because they weren't even interviewed or assessed to see if they could do the course.

    And if you really read the thread, you'd have seen that NCI told everyone that absolutely no prior experience was required, so its not right to say people should have opted out without getting an interview. Basically they sold the course incorrectly, people signed on in good faith, and now everyone is suffering as a result.

    There is someone on the course who had to be told that she could right-click a mouse. If the college bothered to interview people then she would never had made it onto the course in the first place.

    All my other points stand. I'm not writing NCI off totally - but this is just our experience so far, and its not good. I'm not sure why you're trying to defend them so much, the students certainly aren't in the wrong here.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,087 ✭✭✭Clanket


    clubcrown wrote: »
    eh....yeah it does, in both my first two posts. :rolleyes:

    Anybody funded by springboard is having their fees paid by the taxpayer. Its incumbent on any colleges participating in the scheme to ensure that the correct people get on the correct courses. And that the courses are properly run.

    The last thing you want is for springboard to pay big fees for people to take postgraduate or masters courses and then for some of those people to fail because they weren't even interviewed or assessed to see if they could do the course.

    And if you really read the thread, you'd have seen that NCI told everyone that absolutely no prior experience was required, so its not right to say people should have opted out without getting an interview. Basically they sold the course incorrectly, people signed on in good faith, and now everyone is suffering as a result.

    There is someone on the course who had to be told that she could right-click a mouse. If the college bothered to interview people then she would never had made it onto the course in the first place.

    All my other points stand. I'm not writing NCI off totally - but this is just our experience so far, and its not good. I'm not sure why you're trying to defend them so much, the students certainly aren't in the wrong here.
    They were meant to evaluate the non-IT students in advance,
    You can roll your eyes all you want. Please show me exactly where (by way of quotes) it says in your first two posts that NCI were supposed to evaluate the non-IT students in advance.

    A colleges remit is to teach. Not to work out what class people should be in. That's up to the student.

    As has been pointed out by yourself and others, the course has problems.
    Can you please clarify exactly what course it is. Without re-reading the whole thread in detail it seems to be:-
    Postgraduate Diploma in Science in Cloud Computing

    If it's this course then the site says "The Post-Graduate Diploma in Cloud Computing will particularly appeal to graduates with level 8 degrees in related disciplines (including Science, Engineering, Computing…etc.)". Was this not there last year?

    I could be wrong about the course but If I'm not, what did people expect?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭clubcrown


    Clanket wrote: »
    You can roll your eyes all you want. Please show me exactly where (by way of quotes) it says in your first two posts that NCI were supposed to evaluate the non-IT students in advance.

    A colleges remit is to teach. Not to work out what class people should be in. That's up to the student.

    As has been pointed out by yourself and others, the course has problems.
    Can you please clarify exactly what course it is. Without re-reading the whole thread in detail it seems to be:-
    Postgraduate Diploma in Science in Cloud Computing

    If it's this course then the site says "The Post-Graduate Diploma in Cloud Computing will particularly appeal to graduates with level 8 degrees in related disciplines (including Science, Engineering, Computing…etc.)". Was this not there last year?

    I could be wrong about the course but If I'm not, what did people expect?

    Its a brand new course. Seeing as you're pretty much ignoring what I'm saying, and entirely missing the point, I'm done with this discussion.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,087 ✭✭✭Clanket


    clubcrown wrote: »
    Its a brand new course. Seeing as you're pretty much ignoring what I'm saying, and entirely missing the point, I'm done with this discussion.

    lol yeh sure. I'm the one ignoring what the other is saying. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 224 ✭✭clubcrown


    Clanket wrote: »
    lol yeh sure. I'm the one ignoring what the other is saying. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

    "you can roll your eyes all you want", a great man once said to me :-)

    Go re-read the thread boss. I bet you'll get the answers you want. Its not too complicated to understand really. I'm not going to repeat myself just because you're being obtuse.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,087 ✭✭✭Clanket


    And I'm not going to argue with someone who can't quote to backup what they're saying.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 621 ✭✭✭Barack Obama


    Clanket wrote: »
    A colleges remit is to teach. Not to work out what class people should be in. That's up to the student.

    You are 100% incorrect Clanket. In the case of postgraduate courses, the onus is completly on the college to only accept people of suitable standard for the course.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,087 ✭✭✭Clanket


    I don't understand that. Can you explain why?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 621 ✭✭✭Barack Obama


    Let me put it like this – anyone can apply for a course and you are correct that people should research to ensure that the course is applicable to them. But this is only about them applying.

    For postgrad courses, the college has standards that each individual should meet – these are in the form of academic qualifications or REPL (Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning). This is all standard for postgrad applications in all institutions and NCI publishes this information in the prospectus. In the case of these courses, it simply appears that the NCI did not follow through on this and opened the floodgates. There is simply no way that this course should have been offered to people with no IT qualifications or experience!

    Personally, I’d like to know if Springboard money is paid upfront but this would be speculation on my part…


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,087 ✭✭✭Clanket


    I still think the onus is on the student to ensure they are enrolling on a course they will be able to complete.

    Is it an actual requirement of anyones (funding bodies, examinations bodies etc) that the college assesses the suitability of candidates?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 621 ✭✭✭Barack Obama


    Clanket wrote: »
    I still think the onus is on the student to ensure they are enrolling on a course they will be able to complete.

    Yep - agree 100%. No point in someone applying for a course if they feel it is not applicaple to them or too difficult to complete.
    Clanket wrote: »
    Is it an actual requirement of anyones (funding bodies, examinations bodies etc) that the college assesses the suitability of candidates?

    It's a requirement of the 3rd level institutions offering these courses and they should be doing it. To be honest, the first that I heard of NCI interviewing anyone for this course was on this thread! These are HETAC level 9 courses and there are rules to follow.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8 MrsNice


    @ Brewie

    STAY AWAY FROM NCI.... go some where else... STAY AWAY....

    I'm on the pgcert in cloud computing... in NCI and its run by 3 year olds... seriously... I picked the course because it looked impressive on-line and it was part of springboard... but that's where my prase for this course ends.. They advertised the course as a point of entry in to the Cloud computing industry, and that you dont nead a programming backgroud.... they lie...

    anyway I don't want to make this a rant about my course... , I'm also a student in Kevin St... there are pro's and con's to both but... NCI will put you in to a huge class, and try to shock you with 70+ students in your class and 630-1030 evening lectures... with 2-3 differnt subjects a night... DIT has you in 630/7 - 930 with one lecture a night... the classes are smaller, and the lectuers are more accomidating to your needs...

    N

    PM me if you want more info


    I would like to say that this is an excellent course and I think that the group that are left would all agree with me. Nemo is gone !!!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,009 ✭✭✭skimpydoo


    MrsNice wrote: »
    I would like to say that this is an excellent course and I think that the group that are left would all agree with me. Nemo is gone !!!!
    Nemo has deferred as she is busy with her Masters. I do agree that the course is excellent but I think this Semester will be a bitch as Enterprise Frameworks will be very tough.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8 MrsNice


    Nemo has deferred as she is busy with her Masters. I do agree that the course is excellent but I think this Semester will be a bitch as Enterprise Frameworks will be very tough.

    Instead of coming on here and slating NCI she should have been concentrating on her workload... maybe then she could finish something she started.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 891 ✭✭✭Mmmm_Lemony


    How many was there originally on the course and how many are left?

    Also, is there not some avenue or forum to raise issues with the course? Like a student rep meeting?

    I'm on the BSHCE track and we have class reps that attend meeting and raise issues for the class. Does this course not have something similar?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8 MrsNice


    How many was there originally on the course and how many are left?

    Also, is there not some avenue or forum to raise issues with the course? Like a student rep meeting?

    I'm on the BSHCE track and we have class reps that attend meeting and raise issues for the class. Does this course not have something similar?

    Unfortunately Nemo was our class rep and only raised issues that effected her without asking the class for a consensus. The main problem people have it that they find it too hard !!! We are doing a level 9 postgrad course ... not sure what people expected but I think the majority of the class should have done a fas course ... not level 9. I don't have an IT background and so have to put a lot of work into it but am managing.
    I think that there were about 70 people to start with and about 30 left (thats a rough estimate and some were doing a cert course - probably a min of 15 have dropped out)


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