TCD is to reserve 70 places across all disciplines for students who successfully complete a new higher-education foundation course. "The course," explains the provost, Dr Tom Mitchell, "will offer an alternative pathway to third-level education for young adults whose social, economic and cultural experiences have prevented them from achieving their full potential."

The young people in question are bright and have passed the Leaving Certificate but have failed to achieve sufficiently high points.

"They need a bridging course rather than a repeat of the Leaving Cert if they are to have a serious chance of success at third level," Mitchell says. A pilot programme, which will admit 20 students from schools affiliated to the Trinity Access Programme, is due to start in October.

A number of specialist subjects apart, students will study English, maths and computing. They will receive educational guidance and personal-development training and develop communications skills.