Alarm as brightest students reject computing courses

The number of high-achieving students who choose computing courses at third level has fallen from just under 6 per cent in 2000 to less than 1 per cent in 2006, according to a new report from the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

The report also supports the statistics that show girls are still achieving better academic results than boys, with females accounting for 60 per cent of college applicants with more than 450 Leaving Certificate points.

The HEA report examined the third-level choices of students who had achieved "high points", defined as 450 to 600 points, in the Leaving Certificate exam.

The number of females achieving the very highest level of points, 550 to 600, which requires the student to achieve an A1 grade in almost every subject, is on the increase. In 2005, the percentage of female "high points" earners who were in the 550-600 bracket was 14.5 per cent; in 2006 this rose to 17.3 per cent.

The number of males in the 450-plus category who were also in the 550-600 range remained static at 14.8 per cent.

Despite increasing industry demands for technology graduates, computing and technology courses are becoming a less popular choice for the high points applicants.

The decline in high points applicants to computing courses from 5.8 per cent in 2000 to 0.8 per cent last year is "a worrying development", the HEA said.

The report also found that high-achieving women were less likely than men to apply for computing courses, with just over 30 per cent of high points female applicants choosing computing compared with nearly 70 per cent of males with high points.

Despite attempts to broaden admittance to medicine and medical-related courses, applicants to these courses were almost exclusively in the highest points bracket and came from professional backgrounds.

More than 92 per cent of those admitted to medicine courses had in excess of 550 points and 95 per cent of veterinary applicants had 550-plus points. Dentistry, pharmacy and physiotherapy also attracted the top points earners at 93 per cent, 85 per cent and 71 per cent respectively achieving more than 550 points.