irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 17:40

Sen Flynn, Education Editor

The online education provider Hibernia College is to offer degree courses in computing and business in association with the University of London, one of the worlds top ranked universities.

Students will pay 4,980 for the undergraduate degree courses which will be awarded by the University of London. The university has several constituent colleges including the London School of Economic and University College London.

The move by Hibernia will test the growing market for private third level education in the Republic and is a significant move.

Its director, Sen Rowland says the major benefit for students is that they can gain a much valued degree from a top ranked college - without incurring accommodation, travel and other costs.

While Hibernia hope to enrol about 250 students in the first year of the programme, some observers believe that student demand for the courses could increase dramatically over the next five years.

More students could opt for more flexible, on line courses as the student contribution fee for third level colleges is set to rise to 3,000 by 2015. There is also concern in some university circles that Irish students might see degree courses offered by top ranked international colleges as more attractive than those from under funded Irish colleges.

The three year degree programme on offer include a B.Sc. in Creative Computing; a B.Sc. in Computing and Information Systems; a B.Sc. in Management and a B.Sc. in Business. A one year diploma course in management for graduates is also available.

Hibernia is also offering 20 scholarships on the degree programmes to sports people from Gaelic games, rugby, soccer and tennis in Ireland. Todays launch was attended by several prominent sports stars including rugby international Tommy Bowe and Dublin footballer Bernard Brogan.

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Hibernia to offer business degrees