Ninth Level Ireland

“When third-level college places were announced last week, my social media was quickly flooded with images of excited young adults about to embark on the next stage of their education. Like most years, these images came a week after a stream of news stories on the ‘600-plus points’ students who were rightly celebrated in the national media …” (more)

[Colman Noctor, Irish Examiner, 14 September]

“NUI Galway has appointed its first full-time Traveller Education Officer to lead the teaching and learning of students from the Traveller community. Owen Ward, a Traveller, qualified teacher and alumnus of the University, will take on the role as NUI Galway develops a model to empower the community to overcome barriers to access, progression, retention and success in higher education …” (more)

[Kenneth Fox, BreakingNews.ie, 13 September]

“Sir, – On the front page of the Irish Times on September 8th, the university registrars cite ‘grade inflation’ as the source of ‘cruelty’ inflicted on disappointed young people seeking to enter college (‘Call to tackle “cruel” grade inflation as college points hit new high’, News, September 8th) …” (more)

[Tomás Ó Ruairc, Irish Times, 13 September]

“Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has said that the government’s approach to college fees is not working, criticising the Irish University Association’s (IUA) opposition to fee abolition. In an interview with The University Times, IUA Director General Jim Miley said that ‘we have to recognise that there are individuals and families in the country who can afford to make the student contribution’ …” (more)

[Mairead Maguire, University Times, 10 September]

“Beginning college is a special and exciting time. It means developing new friendships, embarking on new experiences and getting to grips with a subject you love. However, for too many students, it’s also a time of stress and pressure as they struggle to meet the costs of college …” (more)

[Mary Lou McDonald, University Times, 9 September]

“Significant numbers of Leaving Cert students have not received any college offers after failing to spot ‘urgent’ emails from the CAO alerting them to errors or omissions in their applications. In many cases, the affected students secured the points required for their first-choice courses but lost out because their exam numbers were not recorded on the CAO system …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 9 September]

“… The reason for this inflation is obvious: The department of education, fearful that it would be blamed by some parents if their children did not do well in the context of a year of school closures, instructed that those marking the examinations should take the lockdown and the impact of school closures into account. Formally and informally, up and down the examinations process, political pressure was exerted to make sure that people’s ‘hard work’ was recognised and rewarded. The result is record high marks. But of course, record high marks have disastrous consequences …” (more)

[John McGuirk, Gript, 9 September]

“Leaving Cert grades look set to return to more normal levels in next year’s exams, down from record highs of the past two years. Minister for Education Norma Foley said on Wednesday that a return to more traditional assessments next year, without school-estimated grades, is likely to see a return to more normal patterns of achievement …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 8 September]

“There ‘must be a better way’ to decide on third-level admissions than the Leaving Cert, the Minister for Further Education has said. Speaking in Dublin on Wednesday, Simon Harris said he is not sure the current exam and points race is ‘the right way to go’, referring to the fact that a number of students who achieved maximum marks in the Leaving Cert could still miss out on their preferred course due to their being more students applying than places available …” (more)

[Paul Hosford, Irish Examiner, 8 September]

“Yesterday the Central Admissions Office released the first round offers for entry to Irish Universities; today the details appeared in the Irish newspapers. I don’t usually buy a newspaper on a weekday but I couldn’t resist getting a copy of the Irish Times so I could pore over the information presented in the CAO supplement, of which the picture above shows only a part …” (more)

[In the Dark, 8 September]

“CAO points for entry into many college courses have jumped to a record high, with some students failing to get into courses despite securing more than 600 points. About 20 college courses across universities such as Trinity, UCD, DCU, NUI Galway, RCSI and UL broke the 600-point barrier this year. This is up from seven courses last year and just one the year before …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 7 September]

“Irish universities are unlikely to advocate for the abolition of the student contribution charge, after the head of the sector’s lobby group signalled his opposition to the principle of free third-level education …” (more)

[Jennifer Ní Chiara, University Times, 7 September]

“A piece in the SBP at the weekend by John Walsh caught my eye. In it he demanded the reintroduction of fees. He suggests: ‘There is one policy area, however, that the government would be more than happy to keep in cold storage. Yet its implications are far reaching …'” (more)

[The Cedar Lounge Revolution, 7 September]

“Some students who received more than 600 points in their Leaving Cert may miss out on their first-choice course in the first round of CAO offers on Tuesday because of grade inflation. CAO points for university and college courses are set to increase when offers are made in the first round due to a record number of students securing the highest grades in this year’s Leaving Cert …” (more)

[Simon Carswell, Irish Times, 7 September]

“A student housing crisis is forcing some students to defer third-level education until they have saved enough money to cover escalating accommodation and college costs …” (more)

[Liz Dunphy, Irish Examiner, 6 September]

“The minister for higher education is set to overhaul the CAO system to include further education and apprenticeships. From November, the CAO website will be revamped to include those areas in a bid to ease what has been dubbed the ‘points race’ …” (more)

[Paul Hosford, Irish Examiner, 6 September]

“Leaving Cert grade inflation means measures are likely to be needed for next year’s exam students to make sure they have fair access to higher and further education …” (more)

[Wayne O’Connor, Independent, 5 September]

“Pol Ó Dochartaigh, Deputy President of NUI Galway and Chair of the CAO, has said the ‘hard reality’ is some students will not be successful in securing their first choice. Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, he said the Leaving Certificate points have gone up and therefore the demand for the places has gone up …” (more)

[RTÉ News, 5 September]

“Students face paying up to €11,000 for on-campus accommodation this year. UCD updated its costs for on-campus accommodation for this coming academic year, with options ranging from €6,728 to €10,526 for first year students and €6,447 to €11,113 for returning students …” (more)

[Seoirse Mulgrew, Independent, 6 September]

“The cost of college is frequently a barrier to accessing education for many students, and with the first installment of the SUSI grant not set to be paid until October 8th, it is going to be particularly hard this year for many to make ends meet. This week, The University Times spoke to recipients of the grant about the later-than-normal first payment …” (more)

[University Times, 6 September]