Online blitz sees 17,000 accept college places

MORE than 17,000 students accepted college places in a hectic eight hours of activity on the Central Applications Office (CAO) website yesterday. The facility opened at 6am as almost 47,000 were offered courses in third-level colleges, with Leaving Certificate points rising in arts, science, nursing and teaching degrees. While many applicants for programmes under those category headings were left disappointed, falling demand prompted a sharp slide in points for many courses in engineering, technology, architecture, and law.

The selection of medicine students based on results in the Leaving Certificate and an aptitude test taken in February has had mixed results, with male applicants improving their share of places and more first-time Leaving Certificate students qualifying. But those offered places in medical school yesterday all had at least 520 out of a maximum 600 points, meaning access is still restricted to around the top 6% of school-leavers.

The CAO reported that 17,260 people accepted an offer by 4pm yesterday, but the remaining 28,000-plus people who received an offer have until next Tuesday at 5.15pm to make an acceptance. A second round of offers will be made next Friday week, September 2, when up to 1,000 of the 20,000 people left without an offer at this stage could receive good news. A record 74,000 applied for places through the CAO this year, up 5,000 on last year and nearly 7,000 places had already been taken up by mature students and others who were not competing with school leavers ahead of the Round 1 offers.

The CAO will list courses which have places to fill from midday today on its website (www.cao.ie). These are courses for which not enough applicants have met the required points or other criteria, and fresh applications are open to people not already registered with CAO, as well as to others who might not have already listed them on their course choices.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe has got Cabinet approval for the investment of €20 million over the next few years in a scholarship scheme to bring top students from the US to Irish colleges.

More than 100 students have already taken part in postgraduate programmes in the Republic and Northern Ireland through the George Mitchell Scholarship Programme since its inception a decade ago and 12 more are due to begin studying here in the autumn.

The investment will require the passing of legislation, which the minister expects to publish in the autumn. His spokesperson said the funding would be matched by the US government and the scheme would have long-term benefits as many of those who take part may be future decision-makers in American business and politics.