UCD's decision to introduce graduate entry puts pressure on the Government to create more medical places, writes Seán Flynn.
Even though the requirement of high points for entry to medical courses is a well-established fact of life, this year's CAO list still managed to create a stir. Incredibly, points for medical courses continued their upward surge, reaching 590 in some colleges.
With a minimum requirement of 570 points, Leaving Cert students needed six A grades to gain entry to medical courses. As a result, only 143 first-time Leaving Certs were offered places in medicine this year - the remainder were taken by repeats and non-EU students.
There are two issues here. The pressure placed on students by this points race in medicine - and the wider question of why more places are not available, given the pressing needs of the health service?
Both issues have been addressed by the expert group on medical education chaired by Prof Patrick Fottrell, a former president of NUI Galway.
His report said the number of places for Irish and other EU medical students in the State should be more than doubled (from its current cap of 305 places) and the number of non-EU students trained here reduced.
It also proposed new entry systems to medicine, with new graduate entry programmes running in parallel with the current model for school-leavers.
Support for graduate entry has been increasing in recent years, with former education minister Noel Dempsey one of those signalling support. There is a widespread view that students could make a more informed choice on a career in medicine after some years in college.
UCD is not the first university to adopt graduate entry in medicine. UL has well-advanced plans for a similar approach.
For the hard-pressed colleges, a shift to graduate entry also makes sound financial sense. UCD sources envisage graduates paying fees of €15,000 a year, generating much more than the €7,000 currently paid to them by the Government to cover undergraduate fees.
At present, UCD and other medical schools are hugely dependent on non-EU students paying €23,500 per year in fees.
But where will the balance lie between graduate and postgraduate students, given the cap on places?
One source suggested last night that UCD was "putting it up to the Government. UCD is planning on a phased basis to displace school-leavers with graduates paying hefty fees. It is fees by the back door." UCD was coy about this, saying that fees and other issues have still to be resolved, pending discussions with the Higher Education Authority.
The overall situation could change, of course, if the Government was to lift the cap on medical places.
In the Dáil yesterday, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said she will bring proposals to Cabinet shortly, based on the Fottrell report.
UCD is pressing on with its plans, scheduling its aptitude test for early next year. This is likely to be based on the Australian model - the Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admission Test. The test has a strong scientific component with one section devoted to reasoning powers in biological and physical sciences.