Cut-off points for abinitio degree courses 1997:

UCC - computer studies/ science 410; business information systems 470

DCU - computer applications 410; ceim in airgeadas, riomhaireacht agus fiontraiocht 415 Cork RTC - computer applications 370;software dev and comp network 410

WIT - applied computing 345

UCD - science 410

UCG - computing studies 350; information technology 445

UL - computer systems 385; language/computing 455; applied maths/ computing 380; computer engineering 430; information technology 380

TCD - computer/German 445; computers/French 480; computers/Irish 430; computer science 450; management science and information systems 460

NUI Maynooth - science 340

New courses include computer science in Limerick RTC; computer science in UCD (previously offered through science only); business information systems development in DIT (previously a diploma); computer science (previously offered through science only) in NUI Maynooth; BA (mod) in information and communications technology in TCD; electronic and computer engineering in UCG. ( random selection Cert/diploma courses 1997:

A tremendous variety of computing programmes is offered by DIT, WIT and RTCs. In some cases these are combined with a language.

Add-on degrees:

Athlone RTC - software engineering; Carlow RTC - software engineering; Dundalk

RTC - commercial computing; Galway RTC - software development; Letterkenny RTC - applied computing; Limerick RTC - information systems; Sligo RTC - computing;

Tallaght RTC - computing (information technology); Tralee RTC - B Sc in computing; WIT - commercial software development.

Sample starting salaries:

Graduates of degree programmes £14,000 to £16,000 annually.