“COURSES on offer at the University of Limerick (UL) have bucked the drop in student numbers seeking third-level places, with a significant increase in applicants for its programmes.
“Central Applications Office (CAO) figures show that UL’s figure is up more than 4% on 2008 and up 10.5% on figures for 2007.
“UL president Professor Don Barry said: ‘Against a national trend of declining entry levels for university courses, UL’s programmes continue to be highly sought after by students with excellent Leaving Cert results. Over 50% of our existing programmes increased or maintained their overall CAO application levels.’
“UL’s nursing programmes performed well, with some of the highest percentage increases in applicants being attributed to these programmes. Against a national increase in demand of 12%, the UL mental health nursing programme registered an increase of 27% in applications, with UL’s midwifery programme attracting 19% more applications than in 2008.
“UL’s new degree programmes due to commence in September have performed well, with the degree in energy proving particularly popular, registering 71 first preferences and 385 overall applications, while the degree in psychology achieved 116 first preferences and 628 overall applications.
“In arts, humanities and social sciences, applications for UL’s applied languages programme were up 40%, and the number of first preferences for European studies increased 120%. The recently introduced degree in voice and dance attracted 61% more first preferences.
“Engineering programmes at UL remain popular, with an increase in overall applications of 91% for product design and technology and an increase of 19% in overall applications to Electronic Engineering.”
[Jimmy Woulfe, Irish Examiner, 12 March]