Hello,
First of all , here are a few facts:
good quality part time degrees are thin on the ground.
Civil Eng degrees are now 10 a penny.
Civil eng jobs will soon be getting slack
Im a Civil Engineer in a Road Design Office. (UCG 1998). If I had my time over again I would have specilaised in Hydraulic Engineering /Water Treatment/ Pipeline design etc. Every consultancy I ever worked for were always looking for specialists in this area. Despite the rainfall these past few weeks, clean potable water is a scarce resource in Ireland and to a greater extent globally. Just think of all the "boil water notices" you hear on the radio.
Unfortunately there have been alot of colleges, ITs churning out alot of poor quality civil engineering courses during the celtic tiger building boom years. ....its been a money racket in alot of cases...so he needs to be careful. some are pass degree and fewer are honours degree standard.
UCG have a direct entry course for mature students, A friend of mine who never did his leaving cert got into Civil ENG in NUIG when he was 23 years old. He did a 6 month induction course in Maths and Science. He graduated 2 years ago aged 27.
I think if you're boyfriend is serious he should bite the bullet and go back full time. Part time can be a pain.
My advice in order of preference Queens Belfast , UCC , Imperial college London.