Guide for Parents and Students

Congratulations! You are ready for the next step on your journey to a successful and rewarding career.

Guide for parents and students You are completing or about to complete, your Leaving Certificate and SETU Carlow is here to help you with the next step. As well as gaining a qualification in your chosen field of study, SETU Carlow provides you with the platforms to gain valuable employability skills.

Employability includes all the knowledge, skills and attributes you have that will help you have a successful and enjoyable career.  SETU Carlow has developed an Employability Statement to support you attaining employability skills throughout your course.

SETU Carlow Graduate Attributes are the special skills that you have attained which differentiate you from everyone else. These attributes empower SETU Carlow students to define and develop that which sets them apart. They build from all aspects of student life, including involvement in sport, clubs and societies. Employability skills are embedded in the graduate attributes and are threaded throughout the academic courses.

SETU Carlow Graduate Attributes Wheel

SETU Carlow Graduate Attributes Wheel

 

Samples of skills and how they are embedded in courses can be found in Opportunities for employability as part of a course »

The Leaving Certificate is one route to education and to employment but there are many pathways and these are explored in the student Journeys. These are real examples of people who have taken different routes to employment.

You also have choices once you register as a student at SETU Carlow.  If you find that, after two or three weeks that the course you are on is not what you wanted but there is another course that you really like and you have the CAO points for entry, you can change if there are spaces available.  If there are no spaces this year you can withdraw and complete the CAO for next year to enter that course*.

*NOTE: CAO Points can increase and therefore get advice before withdrawing as you will still have to meet the new CAO points.  If you withdraw from a third level course in the first four weeks, you can still avail of the ‘free fees’ the following year. Read more at SUSI & SETU Carlow Student Resources

Education and Employability

  • The higher the level of education achieved the more employable and the more choices the graduate has.
  • Therefore education is linked to employability and SETU Carlow develops the knowledge, skills and competencies through a variety of ways as the student progresses to graduation.
  • These are summarised in the graduate attributes which can be attained by all graduates.
  • The pathways to education are shown here » You can read how employability skills are built into SETU Carlow courses.