Ninth Level Ireland

“Second-level student leaders say teaching of first years in third-level colleges must start no earlier than September 27, following the announcement that Leaving Cert result won’t issue until September 3. Colleges have been reviewing their schedules and some, including UCD, DCU, UCC, NUI Galway and Maynooth University, have decided on a September 27 start for tuition, but details are awaited from across the sector …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 10 June]

“New college places to be created this year will be enough to offset the potential effect accredited grades and increased demand will have on this year’s race for courses. That is according to Education Minister Norma Foley, speaking ahead of the Leaving Certificate exams getting underway tomorrow …” (more)

[Jess Casey, Irish Examiner, 8 June]

“Tens of thousands of college applicants are due to receive CAO first round offers four days after the Leaving Cert results are released. The Central Applications Office (CAO) confirmed on Friday that offers will be made available online at 2pm on Tuesday, September 7th. Applicants will have just under a week to accept any offers …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 4 June]

“Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said this year’s Leaving Certificate students will not miss out on CAO offers despite the delay in the date for results. The CAO and universities have all agreed to accommodate the later timeline, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland after it was announced on Wednesday that results would not be issued until September 3rd …” (more)

[Vivienne Clarke, BreakingNews.ie, 3 June]

“Tens of thousands of Leaving Cert students will have to wait until early September before receiving their results and CAO offers. Minister for Education Norma Foley has confirmed that students will be able to access their results online on Friday, September 3rd. It is likely that CAO round one offers for college applicants will follow shortly afterwards in the week beginning Monday, September 6th …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 2 June]

“Third level institutions will find it difficult to cater to the demand from Erasmus students who are opting to study in Ireland instead of the UK due to Brexit, the Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU has heard …” (more)

[Aine Kenny, Irish Times, 31 May]

“The ‘lion’s share’ of this year’s 7,000 additional CAO applicants are coming from the EU, according to Prof Pól Ó Dochartaigh, the chair of the CAO. Approximately 5,000 of the additional applications have come from the EU. The increases may be related to Brexit, as the UK, in comparison, has seen a major drop in EU applicants …” (more)

[Cormac Watson, University Times, 31 May]

“Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the accommodation that has been made to ensure that students of the class of 2020 that never got to finish their courses, that received calculated grades in 2020, sat the leaving certificate in 2020 and are being expected to await the first round of CAO offers in September in 2021 to know their fate in relation to their preferred choice of university course thus forcing them to compete for limited places in specialist courses such as radiography or biomedical science with the leaving certificate class of 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 27 May]

“If you told teachers in 2019 that the Leaving Cert exams would be cancelled and they’d all be marking their own students, they might have laughed at you and then threatened to strike. But now, in the second year of the pandemic, teachers are – reluctantly, in many cases – set to mark their own students again …” (more)

[Peter McGuire, Irish Times, 25 May]

“Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider the plight of students who sat exams in November 2020 by accommodating these students’ course preferences ahead of the class of 2021 given the difficulties they faced, especially with some having had their calculated grades reduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 13 May]

“The arrival of Covid-19 on Irish shores triggered a sea-change in how education was delivered here but over one year on, we asked how it has impacted student choices as they look to decide what courses to apply for through the CAO …” (more)

[Peter McGuire, Irish Times, 11 May]

“A record 84,000 students have applied for college places in the coming academic year, according to well-placed sources, placing further pressure on the third-level entry system. Last February the Central Applications Office (CAO) received a record 79,000 applications for college places, a 9% increase on 2020 …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 10 May]

“I’m told there are record numbers of CAO applicants this year. What effect is this likely to have on CAO points requirements for third-level courses in 2021? The success or otherwise of applicants in securing a place in college in one of their top choices is determined by a number of factors such as the grades achieved by this year’s students, the number of places on individual courses and the demand for these places …” (more)

[Brian Mooney, Irish Times, 4 May]

“Accredited grades will be generated for all of this year’s Leaving Certificate students, even in subjects where they have not opted to receive them. The move is part of contingency planning to prepare for possible disruption to the June exams due to Covid outbreaks or other factors …” (more)

[Emma O Kelly, RTÉ News, 1 May]

“Some teachers felt pressure from their schools and parents to inflate students Leaving Cert marks during last year’s calculated grades process, according to a new study. The findings are contained in a preliminary survey of more than 700 secondary teachers who were involved in last year’s calculated grades process, which required teachers to assess their own pupils for State certification for the first time …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 16 April]

“Sir, – Statistics this year show that just over half of students completed their courses in computer science and engineering (Carl O’Brien, ‘Is our obsession with degrees failing students?’, Analysis, Education, March 29th). Reasons for dropping out from college include financial, health, family or changing course. Away from the firm structure of secondary education, new independent learning can become problematic for some students at third level …” (more)

[Kevin McLoughlin, Irish Times, 31 March]

“Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if funding is available for students wishing to continue to third-level education abroad in September 2021 given the likely rise in CAO points requirements for domestic courses; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 24 March]

“Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the approximately 20,000 college applicants who applied for courses in 2021 on the basis of leaving certificate results achieved in previous years and who consequently may have been disadvantaged with respect to CAO points required for entry to their given courses due to disproportionate grade inflation relative to other years; if he is making provisions for those students who may have been denied a placement under such circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 24 March]

“Simon Harris plans on ‘overhauling’ the CAO, looking at alternatives to the Leaving Cert in future years and wants to build more ‘college-owned’ student accommodation. This morning, the Minister for Further and Higher Education appeared on youth radio station SPIN1038, speaking about his plans for the future of higher education in Ireland …” (more)

[Shannon Connolly, Trinity News, 20 March]

“Four in five Leaving Cert candidates have registered to receive accredited grades and/or sit the June exams, with 24 hours left to the deadline. All students entered for Leaving Cert 2021 have been asked register on the Candidate Self Service Portal (CSSP) on gov.ie/LeavingCertificate before 6pm on Tuesday March 16 …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 15 March]