Degrees still tough, but supply-demand change helps to improve applicants' lot

After the bumper exam results last week, the good news continues for most of you. Today's cut-off points from the CAO bring glad tidings.

There are sharp drops at most colleges, with even those seeking places on medical courses getting some relief. This year's points indicate that Ireland's declining student population is starting to have an impact - good news for you, bad news for the colleges.

In other words, fewer and fewer students are chasing more and more places and it has become a buyer's (or applicant's) market. Of course that is not true for everything and those who applied for nursing places will be stunned to see how high the points are. For example you need 460 points to secure a place at Cork University Hospital.

A very noticeable trend is the drop in points for certificate/diploma courses at the institutes of technology and some private colleges. More than 135 of these courses dropped in points, with about 80 rising and the rest remaining unchanged. The acronym AQA (all qualified applicants) was in strong evidence again this year.

When you see that beside a course it means the college is prepared to take students who have just the basic entry requirements. It does not mean those courses are poor - on the contrary, many of them are new and innovative - but it does indicate how difficult it is for some colleges to fill places.

In terms of degree courses, things were more static. About 186 courses rose in points, with about 150 showing a fall. The top end of the points spectrum for degrees was again dominated by medicine, with the Royal College of Surgeons scholarship course (RC003) coming top with 580 points and random selection.

Law with French (TR018) and medicine (TR051) at Trinity came in joint second on 570 points (although law with French was with random selection), with medicine at UCC (CK701) following them with 565.

But healthcare courses, which for so long have distorted the whole CAO process, show some signs, albeit small, of losing their lustre. While medicine was up in Cork by five, it fell by five in the Royal College of Surgeons (this was RC001, entering without the scholarship), by 10 at UCD and five at NUI Galway.

Throughout the degree list you will notice substantial falls, with science plunging furthest. UCD's science course (DN 008) fell 45 points to 300, while DCU's common entry course (DC 201) fell 40 to 315. Trinity's course (TR 071) dropped five to 400, while UCC's biological and chemical sciences (CK 402) course slipped 25 to 400. However where colleges offered science with something else it tended to push up points totals.

Amid all the happy news others will be gutted, and the most disappointed will probably be aspiring engineers. Engineering degree courses rose in virtually every college, with UCD's new denominated options providing the biggest shock. Last year you could get into UCD's common engineering degree with 375 points on round one, but UCD has broken that course into five different options and this squeezed many of you out.

Of the five new courses, the highest was civil or mechanical engineering (DN 075) at 460 points, followed by chemical engineering (DN071) at 445. The picture was similar at NUI Galway where even its common entry engineering course (GY 401) rose 10 to 480 (hitting our diarist, Sarah Caraher, see right). Most of its other engineering courses also rose, with electronic engineering (GY403) up 35 to 435.

Those hoping to do an arts degree met with mixed fortunes. UCD has one of the biggest arts courses (DN012) and it dropped five points to 370 (with random selection). UCC's arts course (CK101) was up 10 to 385, while arts rose by the same amount to 395 (with random selection) at NUI Galway. Trinity's two subject arts degrees were relatively static, although several went up by small amounts. Russian went up by 75 to 380. The related disciplines of communications and journalism were up at almost every college.

Fewer students this year put business/administration courses as their first preference, but this did not curb widespread points increases in this area. Commerce was up in UCC, UCD and NUI Galway. While the increases were small, they would be sufficient to exclude a lot of hopeful students. Trinity's ever popular BESS course (TR081) was up 10 points to 475 (with random selection). A lot of students who missed with 475 in this round will be hoping to pick up a place in the second round.

The other notable feature of this year's degree points was a major slippage for computer, information technology and multimedia related courses. If there is a tech slowdown in the economy, there appears to be one in the college offers system too.

This reporter counted 32 of these courses on the degree list, with 21 of them falling in points terms. TCD continues to have problems in this regard: its computer science courses have experienced high drop-out rates according to HEA statistics, and its centre piece course (TR033) is down 45 to 430. Its computer course with German (TR010) was down a staggering 110 points to 325. DCU's demanding computer applications (DC121) and computational linguistics (DC122) courses were down 20 and 35 points respectively. UCD's computer science course was down 20 to 410, slightly lower than Trinity's.

The certificate/diploma list discloses more dramatic falls and rises than the degree list. The IT in Sligo hit the top of the list with its marketing/ Spanish course (SG104) rising a whopping 300 to 405. Curiously the German version (SG103) moved just five to 110.

The two highest placed cert/diploma courses were medical laboratory science (CR085) at Cork IT and film/TV at Galway-Mayo IT (GA036), both on 435 points.

In the majority of colleges falls were recorded in points. About 25 of the 38 certificate/diploma courses offered by Galway-Mayo IT dropped. Almost all the courses offered by Blanchardstown IT fell, while only a handful of courses at Dundalk IT managed to increase their points. Carlow IT, which has a niche in engineering and computers, saw its points totals fall too.