The hidden face of the CAO

THE EDUCATION PROFILE: IVOR GLEESON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CAO:Next Sunday is the deadline for this year's CAO applications. The CAO has a central role in the education system, but little is known about the organisation or its head Ivor Gleeson. The CAO likes being low profile, but critics say it should be more user-friendly

As thousands of Leaving Cert students decide what to put on their CAO forms, Ivor Gleeson and his co-workers are bracing themselves for the last-minute influx of applications before the deadline at 5.15pm next Sunday.

If you have never heard of Ivor Gleeson, you are probably not alone. Gleeson, the chief executive officer of the Central Applications Office (CAO), likes to keep a low profile. He has been with the CAO for almost 20 years, having joined the company in 1990 when the institutes of technology joined the system. With a background in computer software engineering, Gleeson’s job at the time was to redesign the CAO’s operating system in order to facilitate the extra colleges.

Founded in 1976 to process student applications to the five universities at that time, the CAO now deals with 45 different higher-education institutions.

To date, almost, a million and a half young Irish people have applied to college through the company and yet, the CAO employs only nine full-time staff. Seasonal staff are employed at busy times, but the core of the operation is remarkably small.

Gleeson is a dedicated, affable character with an interesting sideline as chief of the Galway Bay Rally Rescue Unit. He became CEO in 2006.

His predecessor, Dr Martin Newell, founded the CAO and Gleeson largely inherited the way the company operates from him. Newell was always adamant that the CAO rules, as stated in the handbook, should be applied to the letter. The handbook is a contract between the CAO and the students. To break the rules is to break the contract, was his thinking.

“In the late 1970s, there was the attitude of if the deadline was today, well then tomorrow would be grand. For the CAO to say otherwise was a bit of a culture shock,” one observer recalled.

The CAO’s tough, unrelenting approach was brought into sharp focus during Gleeson’s second year in charge. It was early 2007 when the online CAO application system seemed potentially unable to cope with the rush of last-minute applications. As the deadline loomed, students attempting to submit an online application found they couldn’t. . People were beginning to panic.

The CAO had no public affairs department to roll out apologies and reassurances in response to the uproar. Instead CAO operations manager Joe O’Grady, in a difficult interview on Morning Ireland, calmly advised students to keep trying. The capacity to take all applications was there, he said, and the CAO would not be extending the application deadline.

The resulting outcry was fierce and emotional. The CAO was accused of being out of touch. These were distraught 18 year-olds. Why couldn’t the CAO make an exception and extend the deadline just once – was the thrust of the furore. Indeed even the Minister for Education at the time, Mary Hanafin, explored the possibility of extending the deadline only to be told that it wasn’t going to happen.

“Ivor’s job is to interpret the rules,” said one commentator. “That CAO handbook is a legal contract. Make an exception for one and you endanger the contract you have made with everyone else. They had no choice.”

Not everyone sees it that way. “I just think that the handling of the matter displayed a real lack of awareness of just how traumatic something like that could be for teenagers. The CAO’s hands may have been tied, but they could have phrased things in a gentler way,” observed one source.

In the end, all was well, but the CAO acts for the colleges, and the colleges were deeply embarrassed by the whole debacle. They demanded the CAO greatly increase its server capacity, which it duly did. It also provided financial incentives to students who applied early to prevent the last-minute rush.

Significantly, the need for some form of public affairs manager was finally acknowledged and Bracken PR was recruited to represent the organisation.

In truth, the CAO would rather not have a public profile at all. Its relationship with education correspondents is famously prickly.

Contrary to popular belief, it is a private company, not a public service body. When you fill out that CAO form, you are applying to each college you have selected. The role of the CAO is to process your application – nothing more. As a result, the CAO cannot answer any queries about your application beyond interpreting the rules in your CAO handbook. Every other application query is referred to the colleges themselves.

“They provide a very efficient service,” said one source. “But it’s just that there’s no warmth in it. No sense that they understand that they are dealing with very stressed 18 year-olds. They could just be a little more human. Not everyone knows the system as well as they do.”

This issue raises its head time and time again. Anecdotally, there are many complaints about the brusque nature of e-mails and replies to questions from teachers and students.

An insider explains: “You have to understand that when people go to the CAO with a query, often the question should have been asked six months ago. By the time they bring it to the CAO, Ivor and the others can’t do anything about it. When people hear that rules can’t be bent for their distraught teenager, they interpret that as the CAO being cold and dismissive.”

To Gleeson’s credit, with more and more colleges and students to deal with, the CAO runs an extremely efficient ship. It’s a limited company, operating on a not-for-profit basis and the office is financed entirely by application fees.

Gleeson’s colleagues joke that he works flexitime – he starts early and finishes late. “He’s at his desk at the crack of dawn, and he’s very reliable,” said one colleague. “If Ivor says he’ll have something for you in a few minutes, he will.”

The building on Eglinton Street in Galway, while it serves its purpose, is certainly nothing more than functional. The CAO’s regular meetings with guidance counsellors are famously frugal affairs.

“Ivor keeps a sharp eye on costs. Applying to college is actually relatively cheap – even in comparison to what it cost in 1977. That’s thanks to the CAO’s efforts to keep costs down,” said another commentator.

While the CAO does make changes to improve its handbook and online facilities each year, many argue that they don’t go far enough to make services user-friendly for students.

An oft-mentioned illustration of this is the CAO website. Improvements have been made.

Obviously online application was a big leap that happened under Gleeson’s watch, but the website remains old fashioned and difficult to navigate. “It does what it’s supposed to do, but it doesn’t go out of its way to make things easy for students,” one education professional mused.

“As long as it does the job, they don’t seem to mind,” said one source. “I think it comes back to the paranoia about the legal issues. Other organisations manage to publish similar documents and websites that are friendlier in tone but fulfil the legal requisites. I think the CAO is afraid to change things too much in case they create a legal loophole or something. The CAO handbook as it is has stood the test of time.”

To suggest the CAO is unwilling to develop and change is probably unfair. Gleeson is keen that the information the CAO gathers be used by the colleges to improve access and services for students who are disadvantaged – either through background or disability. He is also eager to improve options for students as technological advances allow it.

Nevertheless, relaxing the rules is not a part of his plan, which means that the CAO will continue with its slightly uneasy role in the Irish public eye, catching headlines when things go wrong, but always generating attention regardless. “Ivor and his team do a massive job every year, and what they do ensures that entry into college is completely fair,” said one commentator.

“But sometimes they get a lot of negative attention just for doing what they’re supposed to. I would say they would be happier if they could just do their job without anybody ever knowing they existed.”

CAOMAN to the rescue: quality advice

The popular internet forum boards.ieis an excellent source of information for Leaving Cert students who are confused or stressed about exams. Students pose questions and advice comes from all quarters, including believe it or not, Ivor Gleeson himself.
For the past year or so, a person going under the moniker CAOMANhas been monitoring the boards and occasionally giving concise and friendly adviceabout concerns regarding the CAO system.
CAOMAN's profile says that he is based in Galway, has an interest in motorsports and that he is head of the CAO.
Students are often sceptical as to whether CAOMAN is indeed who he says he is, but in fact, it's true, Ivor Gleeson is CAOMAN.

■ Here’s a snippet from forumboards.ie:

Sdhway:Just wondering what round zero is? It says that it's where they offer places to people who are not awaiting results of examinations ... I did the Leaving Cert last year and now applied to the CAO for a course. Might I be offered a course on the 2nd of August now that they know my results?

CAOMAN:Applicants applying on the basis of Leaving Cert examinations only are issued thier offers on August 18th this year. Round A (July 3) and Round 0 (August 1) offers are for Mature Applicants, Deferred Place Applicants and some FETAC applicants. Hope this helps.

Square_Igloo:Ooh I learned something new!! I never knew there was a "Round 0." Thanks for explaining that! Do you work for the CAO?

CAOMAN:I thought that was kinda obvious YES

Square_Igloo:Well . . . you might have just been a man with the initials CAO