Chapter 9: Kilroy's College

Chapter 9 Kilroy's College: Irish Correspondence College

Category: Proprietary distance training college

Country: Ireland

Location: Dublin
Language of institution: English

Cambridge House Cambridge Road Dublin 4 Tel. 353 1 689562

The Irish Correspondence College was founded by P J Kilroy in 1932. It is, thus, one of the longest established distance education centres in Europe. It is one of Ireland's largest and most prestigious distance education institutions. It has come to be known as Kilroy's College.

Official status

The Irish Correspondence College, or Kilroy's, is a training provider. It is privately owned and operates through two sister companies, one at a national level and the other at international. Both are limited companies.

Kilroy's enjoys an excellent reputation as an education provider in Ireland, and more recently, due to deliberate business strategy on the part of the management, internationally.

At the time of foundation of Kilroy's, free secondary education did not exist in Ireland and so Kilroy's provided an opportunity for those who could not afford secondary education. However, the advent of free education did not diminish Kilroy's position but warranted a creative re-positioning which meant that many of the courses were aimed at the Public service exams and requirements.

However there has been considerable expansion in the range of courses offered by Kilroys and the following courses are now taught:

Leaving Certificate courses
Junior Certificate courses
Junior Creative Writing
Head-start Foundation Courses:
Adult Education Courses:
For Personal Development, Career Training, Income Opportunity or Leisure Study
General Education Studies
English Literature Studies
Business Administration Studies
Communication Skills and Report Writing
Keyboard & Typing Skills
Managing Your Work
Adult Psychology (International Diploma Course)
Child Psychology (International Diploma Course)
Sport Psychology (International Diploma Course)
Childcare Diploma Course
Book-Keeping & Accounts
Farm Accounts & Taxation
Self-Employed Accounts & Taxation
Information Technology
Computer Programming
Aptitude & Intelligence Tests
Interview Techniques
Bank Entrance
Nursing
Garda Recruits
Speak French Now
Speak Spanish Now
Career, Leisure or Income Opportunity Courses:
Creative Writing
Dressmaking
Gardening
Photography
Freelance Journalism
Diet, Fitness and Health.

Other courses have been developed in adult and sports psychology - which is proving very popular in Australia, and the College expects similar results in the South African market, which they are currently investigating. There has also been interest from correspondence schools in Germany and Italy which want to translate the course into the local languages.

Finances

Kilroys does not receive any subsidies or grants from the government. Fees differ greatly according to the course chosen.

Employment

Kilroy's gives employment to twenty-five full and part-time staff. Eighteen of these are employed in an academic capacity. One of the more important achievements of Kilroy's has been the high standard they have reached in course development. Lately much of their energies have been employed in designing, developing and exploiting courses for distance education. This is evidenced by the amount and calibre of the colleges which seek to use Kilroy's courses as part of their syllabi. Kilroy's has many licensing agreements with major colleges in Canada and South Africa.

Certification and courses

The level and range of courses varies greatly. This range includes training for public service competitions to preparatory training for university entrance examinations. Many of Kilroy's courses concentrate on general adult further education. Their child and adult psychology courses have been particularly successful.

An interesting feature at Kilroy's is the globalisation of its core activity and its expansion and expertise in course development. This international push of the core activity at Kilroy's began in 1986. Since 1932 the emphasis had been overwhelmingly on the domestic market. The strategy has paid off. Currently roughly 6,000 foreign students are enrolled at Kilroys. This compares to 2,000 Irish students.

Obviously the foreign market is now of major importance to Kilroy's business, however, in addition to increasing the number of distance education students enrolled in their courses, the foreign market has also provided them with an outlet for the courses they have developed. These courses are distributed in accordance with licensing agreements. Kilroy's success in this area has been most impressive, their courses are enjoying great popularity in many parts of the world, including the largest distance education institutions in Canada and South Africa.

Future plans

Kilroy's envisages the Internet and the developments in the information technology as having great consequences for the distance education sector. It is currently in the process of arranging Web sites and adjusting and development of courses to exploit these new technologies.

Since 1989 Kilroy's College has completed agreements with correspondence colleges in the UK, Canada, and more recently, Australia and the US, to market the child psychology course on a royalty basis. Course development is becoming increasingly important in Kilroy's operations.

Kilroy's have concentrated on marketing courses to native English speakers not resident in english speaking countries a good example is the Algarve in Portugal where many native english speakers now reside, here Kilroy's have targeted this population very successfully and it is another trend which it is intended to follow.