College applicants to flock to Waterford for WIT open day and evening

Visitors to WIT's upcoming open evening and open day will be able to take campus tours as part of their visit. (Picture: Lafayette Photography)

One month exactly ahead of the launch of South East Technological University (SETU), busloads of school students from across the region and beyond will descend on Waterford to find out what it will be like to study at the region’s first university.

Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) and its partner Institute of Technology Carlow (IT Carlow) will become SETU on May 1st. The Schools’ Open Day on Friday, April 1st (10am-2pm) is the first opportunity school leavers will have had to explore the SETU Waterford campus at an in-person open day since 2019.

An evening open event on Thursday, 31 March (6pm-8pm) is ideal for adult learners or CAO applicants who want to take time asking lecturers, support staff and students the questions that matter.

“The most recent feeder school stats highlighted the popularity of Waterford as a place to study for the class of 2021,” says Dr Richard Hayes, Vice President for Strategy at WIT.

WIT is the largest recruiter of students from the south east. One in three school leavers who go onto higher education from the south east come to Waterford to study, more than UCC, UL and UCD combined.

WIT ranks as the number one destination for Co Waterford secondary school students attending higher education. In 2021 1,275 Waterford school leavers went to college; 48% (618) of these started on one of WIT’s 70 CAO undergraduate courses.  

Of the 2,534 graduates of 2021 who were recently conferred 785 are from Waterford City and county (31%). In total, 68% of the class of 2021 were from the south east counties of Waterford, Carlow, Wexford, Kilkenny and Tipperary.  

“Waterford will be at the heart of the development of the south east with the new university central to enhancing what is already a vibrant economic social and cultural environment. Waterford city was named by the Irish Times as Ireland’s best place to live and consistently is identified as a fantastic place to visit by travel journalists internationally.

“The city offers great amenities in addition to a lively environment to learn and grow; it is a place where students can centre themselves for work in the future and not just their college years,” Dr Hayes adds.

GETTING A FEEL FOR THE COLLEGE CAMPUS

Dr Derek O’Byrne, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Registrar at WIT says he is delighted to welcome Leaving Cert students, their teachers and parents/guardians to the main Waterford campus.

“In-person events where people can talk to their future lecturers, explore the facilities and walk the corridors they may be walking for the next four years is core to our ‘right student, right programme’ ethos. We want every single student who accepts an offer of a place here to know, having done the right research, and having asked the right questions that it’s a course and career path that’s suited to them, rather than following friends or trends,” adds Dr O’Byrne.

“Our team has worked hard to bring the campus and student experience alive online over the past two years with online open days, parents’ events, virtual tours and on-demand talks. However, we know how important the sense of a campus or location is to making the right course choices, and so we are grateful to be in the position to bring college applicants onto campus.”

The Thursday evening open event is suited to small groups and individuals and ideal for CAO applicants who want to bring parents, guardians, friends or family along to help make the choice that’s right for them.

May 1st is also the deadline for late applications and WIT is one of the institutes that takes late applications from mature students (except for restricted courses). On May 5th, the CAO change of mind opens, allowing applicants to amend their order of preference, add and remove courses.

While the creation of SETU will see many positive changes over the coming months and beyond, CAO codes and all existing course entry criteria and admissions policies will remain the same for 2022 entry.