A new era in college entry opens today, allowing students to apply for degree courses without worrying about CAO points.
The shake-up means students can start their degree programme in a college of further education (FE) and complete it in a higher education (HE) institution
There will be 23 entry routes to the new-style courses in nursing, business, engineering and media. These will be facilitated through FE colleges in 15 counties, with hundreds of places opening in September.
Speaking ahead of today’s launch, Further and Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said he and his department had made it a priority to change “the unnecessarily stressful points race that the CAO system puts on our learners”.
The FE colleges involved are in one of five clusters with a technological university or other third-level institution in their region. Students will transfer to one of these to complete their degree.
Applications are being invited from today at nto.ie, a one-stop shop providing information on the courses and the entry requirements for each one. It will connect prospective applicants with a regional co-ordinator.
The online portal is being hosted by the new National Tertiary Office (NTO), which has been established in the Higher Education Authority to develop new pathways from further education to higher education.
Instead of competing on the basis of CAO points, applicants will go through the standard FE admissions process. That generally requires only a basic Leaving Cert as well as an interview and, depending on the course, perhaps an audition
Participants will spend the first year or two in an FE college – they operate under the umbrella of education and training boards (ETBs) – and then transfer directly to third level to complete their degree.
Students will not be liable for the €3,000-a-year third-level contribution charge while in the FE college, while those eligible for Susi grants will qualify for supports for the duration of their studies.
The initiative is a welcome alternative for school-leavers with an aptitude for a particular discipline but who are squeezed out of the race for CAO courses because they are short on Leaving Cert points.
It also provides an option for those who have not applied to the CAO but are interested in pursuing one of the areas of study.
An important difference between these programmes and post-Leaving Cert (PLC) courses, which are also offered in FE colleges, is the guaranteed progression to higher education, provided students meet the required academic standard.
PLCs are already popular as a stepping stone to a third-level college. However, having completed a PLC, students then have to compete for a place in higher education on the basis of their results, with varying levels of success.
PLC nursing graduates, in particular, have faced huge competition for places on degree programmes, forcing most to go to the UK every year to do their degree.
Among the new joint programmes is one in the west/northwest for nursing, which is expected to attract a lot of interest.
It will mean a smooth transition from one of a number of FE colleges in the west/northwest to Atlantic Technological University (ATU).
This is also likely to ensure more aspiring nurses stay in Ireland to train.
Apart from making it easier for school-leavers to study at home, it also sits with the national imperative to improve workforce planning to meet the needs of society.
In another example, a student could complete two years of a business course in Portlaoise Institute, followed by two years in South East Technological University.
While the new programmes offer a direct pathway to an honours (Level 8) degree, as students move through their studies they will be on a ladder of qualifications progression.
If a student opts to leave the programme before achieving a degree, they will receive formal recognition of the learning already completed, such as a Level 6 certificate or a Level 7 ordinary degree.
Spending a year or two in a local FE college also facilitates a student in staying at home for that period.
This helps in the cutting of costs for those who otherwise would have had to move to a city to start a degree programme.
Today’s launch represents a first step in the process and more joint programmes are expected to follow in the coming years.