TCD Post-grad Diploma in Building Repair & Conservation

con1982

I'm think of signing up for the course in September. Has anyone done it?

I'd be interested in opinions on the course content and time commitment for assignments.

Prenderb

I've done one in another area. Found the Friday evenings / Saturday morning nature a bit tiring (I'd an hour drive each side), but met a few people and enjoyed the social side of things. There was definitely a bit of time needed for the assignments and I'd say you'll need to budget at least a couple of extra hours each week for assignments and preparing for exams, they do take them seriously. Also, group assignments were part of the course and that brings its own fun with arranging meetings and divvying up the work.

One small caution: Those courses, while generally are of a quality - presented in a serious fashion, are a useful way to develop knowledge, are presented by well-esteemed tutors, examined seriously etc, - they aren't assigned a level on the HETAC scale. This may or may not be important to you. That's not to dissuade you or anything.

DeiseforLiam

Unless something has changed, these courses are Level 9 on the National Framework of Qualifications.
I did one in a different area and used to stay in Dublin on Friday nights. Apart from the travelling, I didn't find that it took up much time until the assignment was due (we only had one and it was individual) and coming up to the exams. Well worth doing IMO.

Prenderb

DeiseforLiam wrote: »

Unless something has changed, these courses are Level 9 on the National Framework of Qualifications.

Something might have changed in the last few years (I finished in about 2008), but I was fairly sure then (and a bit disappointed) that it isn't on HETAC. I can remember the other guys discussing this, and talking to the course organisers etc. I would love to be wrong about this though!

There isn't enough material on them to be equivalent to the Masters level that sits at 9, and while PostGraduate Diploma is a title on the HETAC, these courses aren't equivalent to that. That's the sort of Postgraduate Diploma that takes 2 years part time, or 1 full time, equivalent to a Master's degree without a dissertation.

Getting off the point but...

NFQ: http://www.nfq.ie/nfq/en/documents/Postgraduatel9.pdf: 60 ECTS credits needed for award of Level 9 post graduate diploma.
Trinity: http://www.tcd.ie/teaching-learning/academic-development/assets/pdf/ects_guidelines_pg_2007.pdf

Postgraduate Diploma courses carry a credit weighting of 60 ECTS credits.

Unless you can find me anything that says otherwise, it's clear to me that the post graduate diplomas Trinity has are Level 9 (as was said to me before and during my course (Project Management) there!).

DeiseforLiam

When I did it (2009), we were told that it was Level 9 and that if we did two of them within 4 years and wrote a thesis, we could get a Masters.

Prenderb

I remain skeptical. Their own website refers to them now as "Diploma" courses and doesn't seem to put the word Postgraduate in front of it. If it were, they'd tell us how many ECTS credits there were, like they do for the MSc. Some of our class had discussions with the programme managers during the course and it was our (disappointed) understanding from these that it was enough work to "get to 8.5" on the HETAC scale (this was repeated at certificate bestowal day, too).

Sorry for dragging your query off-topic, OP. If I were you, considering the investment of time and money in any of these, I'd be asking this question of the college directly, prior to applying/paying. Otherwise, content and delivery, as I mentioned above, were of good quality in my experience, and you'll need some time per week to devote to assignments and projects.

DeiseforLiam

The TCD website does list them as Postgraduate Diplomas and a P.Grad.Dip. is the award. The NFQ website directs you to qualifax.ie to check the NFQ level of any given course. They are listed as Level 9 on NFQ.