Sir, – I read with astonishment the article by Kevin Denny and Colm Harmon (Opinion, August 19th) in which they stated that universities here have essentially no role to play in the undergraduate admissions system, and that they are “in effect ‘divorced’ from the admissions process”. Are the authors not aware that under the 1997 Universities Act, Irish universities are responsible for their own admission policies? Are they not aware that each university decides its own admissions requirements and the numbers they will accept into each course, thereby determining the cut-off points for those courses? Do they not know that the CAO (Central Applications Office) is owned and controlled by the universities and the institutes of technology?
The universities, individually or collectively, can change their entry requirements and their admissions policies at any time and implement these changes either directly or through the CAO. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Some statements in the article on the suitability of the points system for selecting students by Kevin Denny and Colm Harmon of UCD (Opinion, August 19th) provoke concern.
First, they stated, “Getting through university is not the problem, getting in is the hard part”. This is not entirely true.
In 2001, a HEA report showed that 17 per cent of students in universities did not complete their studies. More recently, a 2010 HEA study found the percentage of first-year entrants to courses in 2007/08 who were not present one year later was 15 per cent on average across all third- level sectors. This rate varied from 9 per cent in the university sector to 22 per cent in the institute of technology sector.
The 2010 HEA study also showed that the non-presence rate strongly correlated with student’s performance in the Leaving Certificate.
For example, students with 455-500 points had a non-presence rate of approximately 5 per cent and those with 205-250 points had a non-presence rate of approximately 30 Per cent.
Given that a failure rate of 10 per cent in Leaving Certificate maths (ordinary level) produces national soul-searching, a 17 per cent non-completion rate at third-level is worrying.
Second, they state “universities have no role to play in the undergraduate admissions process” and “all Leaving Certificate subjects are treated equally”. Both of these statements are untrue.
First, the CAO is entirely owned and controlled by the third-level colleges. Second, the colleges decide the individual course entry requirements and do not treat all subjects equally. An example would be that many engineering degrees require particular grades in maths and a laboratory science subject. Many art courses require a portfolio.
Colleges would be better to focus their limited resources in ensuring that students make it through their first-year rather than developing extremely costly, complex and duplicated admissions systems. – Yours, etc,