They say, if you can't beat them - and clearly not even a hail of bullets can - join them. We all know crime pays and now so too does education. Our parents always told us our education would stand to us, but they didn't tell us it would stand us a drink in the college bar.

Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) has developed a novel approach to wooing students to unpopular courses. Cash! The Institute is offering a 'grant' of €1,000 to students who study the Physics & Instrumentation course.

GMIT says that while it has been delivering an honours degree in Physics & Instrumentation for several years, producing hundreds of graduates in the discipline, interest in the course among school leavers has waned. Responding to this 'challenge', the Institute has developed this grant initiative, which is being financed from a range of industries and employers who actively recruit Physics & Instrumentation graduates.

Boston Scientific has signed up to the initiative and it is hoped that others will follow. But will it be a runner where it counts: on the CAO form? Time will tell.

Of course, bribing or incentivising unwilling students is nothing new. Parents and educators have been doing it for years. Even the National University of Ireland, Galway is at it.

Seventy-six first year students at the college will be awarded entrance scholarships, based on their excellent Leaving Certificate results at a special ceremony on Saturday.

Entrance scholarships are given annually to all NUI, Galway new entrants who reached a minimum of 560 points in their Leaving Cert (590 in Medicine and Health Sciences). Among the entrance scholarship awardees, 24 reached the maximum 600 points and the number of students achieving such high points is growing every year. Each student will receive a cheque for €1,600 and a specially designed scroll to mark their achievement in last summer's exams.

Sounds great but one wonders if it will be successful in producing graduates. One thousand yo-yos doesn't go that far these days. Pot Noodle into €1,000 only goes X amount of times, no matter what sort of a maths whiz you are.

The logical next step, of course, is all out paying students to attend college. Methinks the money might be better spent though getting the physics whizzes to come up with a way to demystify the college bar.

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