The latest CAO figures indicate a surge in demand for places on medicineand health-related courses, writes Seán Flynn, Education Editor
With fewer students chasing more university places, points requirements for most courses should decline this year. But the drop will not be significant, say careers experts. Demand is still strong for most general arts and business courses across the seven universities. But students can at least be assured that points are not increasing.
There is no such good news for those seeking places in prestigious, high-points courses, especially medicine and related areas.
This was the one area which bucked the trend yesterday. Virtually all the health-related areas showed a dramatic increase in applications, with medicine up by 14 per cent, pharmacy up 9 per cent and physiotherapy 7 per cent.
Careers experts believe the huge publicity given to the health sector in the past year has helped foster keen interest among students. Students, and parents, have clearly taken the view that there is no shortage of well-paid employment opportunities in this sector.
The expected increase in points for medicine could see the threshold for places on some courses rise to as high as 580 points, the equivalent of close to 6 A1s in the Leaving. The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, has been a vocal critic of the high-points regime for medicine. He prefers an alternative system where students take medicine as a post-graduate option. His demand for changes in the current regime is expected to intensify as a result of the latest CAO figures.
By contrast with medicine, interest in teaching appears for the first time in several years to be slipping. The number of applications for the primary teaching degree has declined by 7 per cent. Career experts could not explain this last night. One said he had expected a dip during the ASTI dispute, but it was difficult to see why students were less interested in teaching when the dispute was now resolved.
The latest figures also show no pick-up in demand for computer and technology courses. DCU, the university perhaps most associated with the high-tech sector, has seen a 7 per cent dip in applications. Some universities are finding it difficult to fill these courses. More than 5,000 students who fail ordinary-level maths in the Leaving are ineligible for university courses in these areas. Another 5,000 who take foundation-level maths are also ineligible.
It may be that the figures signal a new trend where the number of applications for third level will decline. The Department of Education recently forecast a 20 per cent increase in third-level numbers but this was based on the Government meeting ambitious targets for increased participation by adult learners and poorer students.