THE number of students from the Republic applying for third level college places in the UK has dropped for the first time in almost a decade.
Nevertheless, more Irish students apply to study in the UK than all other EU nationalities combined, according to figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), the British equivalent of the CAO.
The fall of almost 10 per cent in applications to UCAS is probably due to a decline in the numbers sitting the Leaving Cert this year. This is due to more students taking the transition year programme before studying for the Leaving Cert.
The UCAS figures show that last year there were three times as many applicants from the Republic as from the next highest country, Greece. In 1995 there were 13,402 applicants from the Republic, compared to 4,892 from Greece. Germany and France both had fewer than 2 000 applications.
This year, 12,029 school leavers from the Republic applied to UCAS, compared to the record figure for 1995. This year's total is still far higher than in all other years.
Thus, one in five school leavers in the Republic applied to go to college in the UK. However, many use the UCAS option as a fall back mechanism in case they fail to get a place in the Irish third level system. As a result, the eventual take up of places in Britain is far lower.
The exception is in areas where places are highly restricted and, consequently, CAO points are very high. In pharmacy, physiotherapy and radiography, there are often as many Irish studying in Britain or Northern Ireland as in the Republic.
This is evident in the massive demand from Irish students for UCAS courses in these areas. Last year there were almost 17,000 applications from the Republic for courses in the category "subjects allied to medicine", about twice the level of applications for education or business courses. However, only 398 Irish students took up a para-medical course in Britain and 172 in Northern Ireland.
Last year a record 3,008 Irish students started college in Britain and 1,290 in Northern Ireland. This represented an increase of more than 40 per cent on the previous year.
