Towards a Better Future

Chapter Five: Transition from Second Level to Higher Education
The scale is non-linear – which will reduce the use of random selection in the admissions process
- by minimising the number of candidates presenting with identical points scores. The new scale was
drawn up following extensive mathematical analysis and modelling of the distributions of points
scores that would result from different non-linear scales.
When applying for a place in higher education through the CAO, students can choose from over
1,500 courses in universities, institutes of technology, colleges of education and private colleges,
about 1,000 of which are Level 8 courses. The number of courses has increased steadily over the past
20 years. The HEA report on a National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 noted that the number
of Level 8 courses on the CAO list doubled between 1998 and 2008, with many of these courses
being very narrowly-specialised (HEA, 2011). It noted that one Institute of Technology offers 14
separate specialised Business programmes. On the other hand, other HEIs offer one generic First
Year course in Arts or Business or Engineering and students are not required to specialise until after
First Year.
In 2013, the universities agreed to work together to reduce the number of undergraduate entry
routes ‘to the minimum number necessary for academically appropriate and efficient allocation of
places to applicants’, while at the same time maintaining the number of student places. It was hoped
that this would simplify the process of choice for applicants and the level of competitiveness driving
the system. This approach would also offer a broader First Year experience for students with
specialisation to follow later. In the university sector, it was planned to reduce the number of entry
routes by 20% by 2017. (DES et al, 2013).
However, in a recent media interview, the President of Maynooth University, Professor Philip Nolan,
expressed disappointment that instead of reducing the number of courses, some higher education
institutions, especially in the institute of technology sector, had increased the number of courses –
many of which accepted only a very small numbers of students. There is now a ‘bewildering array’
of more than 1,400 CAO courses, as against 1,286 five years ago (Donnelly, Irish Independent
15/08/2016). 20% of these admit 10 students or fewer, and almost 60% have fewer than 30 students
(Irish Times, 15/08/2016).
A key question arises here: Can the points system be changed? It is important to bear in mind that
the Points System was created and is owned by the higher education institutions and that it can be
changed at any time by those institutions. As its history shows, the system can and has been adjusted
from time to time to take account of different selection criteria. It is open to the higher education
institutions, together or separately, to change their selection criteria. If the institutions believe, either
individually or collectively, that the current selection system is no longer appropriate, they have the
authority, the power and (arguably) the responsibility to change it.
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