There was a wealth and breadth of equipment on show at Munster Technological College (MTU) in Co. Kerry on Friday (November 24) as a part of an agricultural engineering “taster day”.
The college’s south campus in Tralee opened its doorways, and equipment sheds, to potential college students from throughout the nation.
MTU presently affords Stage 7 and Stage 8 diploma programmes in agricultural engineering.
MTU
Seamus Murphy, head of the Division of Expertise Engineering and Maths at MTU, defined to Agriland that the agricultural engineering course has an extended and established historical past in Tralee.
“The remainder of the school germinated over ag engineering, it was the primary programme we had right here again within the early 70s.
“The course has gone from energy to energy, it has survived the check of time, due to the standard of the programme,” he mentioned.
The faculty has grown from a regional technical school, into an institute of expertise and now the Munster Technological College (MTU) within the city of Tralee.
Given the rise in agricultural engineering programs now being provided in Eire, Murphy admitted there’s competitors amongst third degree institutes to draw college students.
“We’re all fishing out of the identical pond. 25 or 30 years in the past we have been the distinctive programme, that is the place it began,” he mentioned.
“I’d be optimistic that our course will proceed into the long run. We’re shifting in parallel with adjustments in expertise, with adjustments in farming and the way we farm and the way we produce meals whereas having regard for the inexperienced financial system,” he added.
Open day
In the course of the MTU open day the potential college students have been introduced in teams on a tour of the intensive campus services.
The equipment catered to all tastes; starting from a classic Ford 3,000 with a wagtail manure spreader, proper as much as 300 horsepower fashionable tractors with bluetooth and GPS expertise.
There have been additionally mix harvesters, balers, sprayers, seeders and fertiliser spreaders for the youngsters to look at.
Within the storage, a sequence of engines, gearboxes and hydraulics gear utilized in coaching have been on show.
MTU engineering lecturers gave a collection of brief displays to the scholars on facets of the course content material.
The youngsters had the possibility to view a diagnostics demonstration on a Massey Ferguson 7716S.
Whereas one other presentation centered on the significance of testing the energy and design of equipment elements, significantly in the case of farm security.
The occasion showcased the most recent expertise out there to college students on the MTU south campus reminiscent of 3D printers that are presently used for the manufacturing of sunshine plastic elements.
Murphy famous that this expertise has the potential to print engines and even homes sooner or later.
Within the fabrication store, the tour seen the vary of metallic forming equipment and welding gear, together with a plasma cutter.
The potential college students additionally seen a standard diesel rail coaching unit and heard how an thought will be introduced from idea by means of to manufacturing.
Agricultural engineering
Murphy mentioned that the MTU programs intention to supply “well-rounded engineers” with “nice instruments for all times” and “transferable abilities” permitting them to enter a variety of industries around the globe.
He burdened the shut relationship between the college and business to fulfill the growing demand for agricultural engineering graduates.
“We’ve got to work with business, we now have to take heed to them. They must feed into the design of our programmes. What do the scholars want? What do the graduates want?
“The place will the roles be in 5, ten, twenty years’ time? We try to offer for that and that’s why we’re modernising our programmes and sustaining foreign money with finest observe on the market,” he mentioned.
Former graduates reminiscent of Robert Shine, managing director of Samco Agricultural Manufacturing, maintain in common contact with the college.
The corporate and others ceaselessly interact with MTU lecturers and college students to collaborate on discovering options to engineering issues.
Together with common exterior website visits throughout their course, the scholars spend a semester throughout third yr on work placement.
The programme doesn’t simply entice college students who’ve a farming background, but in addition these from an city setting who’re taken with agricultural equipment.
Murphy additionally famous that 25% of first yr engineering college students at MTU this yr are feminine.
He mentioned that the college could be very acutely aware of the environmental pressures dealing with farmers towards the backdrop of needing to supply sufficient meals for a rising inhabitants.
“We’ve got needed to redesign modules round that to guarantee that our graduates and our programmes are assembly the present wants of sustainable residing, the inexperienced financial system and all of the challenges related to that,” Murphy mentioned.