Published: Wednesday, 1st September, 2010 6:02pm

AIT numbers hit record levels

The number of new students starting courses at Athlone Institute of Technology this year looks set to mirror last September's record intake of 1400 first years, a spokesperson for the facility has stated.

While new student numbers have not yet been finalised, over 1,300 people had accepted places in courses at Athlone IT as of this week.

The Institute's Communications and Marketing Manager Brian Lynch said it was anticipated that the final number of new students for the coming academic year would be in the region of 1,400.

When this intake is added to the record number of students who began their courses last year, it's expected that total number of full-time students at the Institute this year will be the largest in its history.

Mr Lynch said there had been "strong demand for places across the board" this year but that certain courses in areas such as Mechanical Engineering & Renewable Energy, Culinary Arts, and Hotel & Leisure Management had proved particularly popular.

He also said there had been a significant demand for places from mature students. Some 25% of AIT's new student intake last year consisted of mature students and the proportion could be similar this year, Mr Lynch stated.

Non-first-year students begin returning to AIT from today (Wednesday) while first years will start arriving at the Institute early next week.

Recent reports in the national media indicated that the recession had brought a decrease in the cost of student accommodation of up to 30% in some cases.