About 3,000 extra college places to deal with fallout from Covid

The number of first years at college will rise above 50,000 for the first time with the addition of around 3,000 more third-level places this year.

It is hoped the increase in places will absorb the pressure that the Covid-19 pandemic is heaping on the third-level entry process.

Figures have to be finalised, but higher education colleges have, so far, identified up to 3,000 extra places that can be offered for 2021/22.

That is on top of 2,225 additional places last autumn to adjust for significant inflation in Leaving Cert results after the June exams were replaced by a system of calculated grades because of Covid-19.

Grade inflation is expected again this year as students have the option of receiving accredited grades based on teachers’ estimated marks – similar to last year’s calculated grades – or sit exams, or do both.

If a student chooses both forms of assessment in a subject and there is a difference between the grades awarded, they will be credited with the better result.

Last year’s calculated grades saw a significant increase in points, raising student expectations and leading to huge pressure for places on high demand courses with limited capacity.

Most sixth years have opted to sit exams and to receive accredited grades in one or more subjects.

Meanwhile, the Leaving Certificate 2021 Candidate Self Service Portal reopens today to allow students re-confirm their subjects and levels and whether they are sitting the exam, opting for accredited grades, or both. It remains open until Friday.

All students have to complete this process, even if their choices have not changed since March, and this is the final opportunity to confirm their intentions.

Candidates sitting exams will be able to change their subject level on the day of the exam, but the level in each subject that they select now will be their final level for the purposes of accredited grades.

Students who didn’t register in March can complete registration now and make their final subject level choices.

A ‘Before you Start’ guide to this phase of the process has been published on gov.ie/Leaving Certificate.

The estimated 3,000 extra places in 2021/22 will sit alongside about 4,000 already announced to accommodate rising school-leaver numbers and to increase capacity on courses that meet priority skills needs. 

The demand for college this year and the pressure on particular courses was evident in initial CAO application figures last month.

The CAO received a record 79,176 applications by the standard February 1 deadline and that figure is expected to have risen when the deadline for late applications passes on May 1.

In February, applications were up 6,203, 9pc, on the same date in 2020, but 9pc was only an average and many disciplines are running well ahead of that with some around double the 2020 level.

There is particular pressure for places on high points courses in areas such as the health sciences.

In examples of demand for university offers, Trinity College Dublin recorded a 38pc increase in first preference applications and at University College Dublin, applications are up across the board in 33 of 38 degree programmes

Higher Education Minister Simon Harris set up a working group to identify spare capacity in higher education and he is expecting a report within weeks.

The group has been examining how many more places can be offered from existing resources and if extra resources were made available, and how many more on courses such as medicine or teaching which also involve work placements.

Mr Harris said the third area was “the trickiest” because it was not just a question of his department providing funding for a place, but finding a matching placement.

Irish Independent