UCD now top student choice as 77,000 seek college places

THE COUNTRY'S biggest university, UCD, has moved ahead of Trinity College in the popularity stakes, the Irish Independent has learned.

Competition for students' first preferences has intensified with colleges targeting late applicants and those who use a 'change of mind' facility in the CAO system.

Applications have been rising steadily since the initial closing date of February 1 and have now reached record levels of more than 77,000 this year.

Confidential figures show that over the past few months the number of first preferences for UCD increased by 319 to 8,197, while Trinity's first preferences fell by 70 to 7,717.

It is believed many of the additional applications to UCD were for science courses, which have surged in popularity after years of being in the doldrums.

UCC's first preferences went up by 216 to 6,302 but the biggest winner was NUI Galway which got an extra 595 first preferences, bringing it to 5,690, its highest to date.

University president Dr James J Browne said Galway was seeing a phenomenal demand for places. This was driven in part by 20 new undergraduate courses introduced in Galway since 2007.

Of the university's traditional courses, the commerce degree had seen a huge increase in popularity, with a 25pc increase in applications in recent months.

'Much of this success is due to innovative programme developments over the last year, including the addition of an industry-led module on innovation, creativity and enterprise where students are mentored by business leaders.

Relevance

'There are also a range of new sports, arts and academic facilities on our state-of-the art campus. Another critical factor in attracting applicants is the university's commitment to providing our students with a learning experience that has relevance for the real world,' said Dr Browne.

The CAO figures show also that the University of Limerick increased its first preferences by 137 to 4,567, while DCU went up 348 to 4,344, NUI Maynooth went up 334 to 3,110 and DIT increased to 4,785.

In the Institute of Technology sector, Waterford has 2,819 first preferences for level eight honours degree courses, followed by Carlow at 1,797 and Cork at 1,647.

The smallest institute, Letterkenny, has 347 first preferences - almost double the 190 for the Tipperary Institute, which is planning to join up with the Limerick Institute of Technology.

In the colleges of education sector, Mary Immaculate in Limerick has 1,416 first preferences for places on its programmes, ahead of St Patrick's College, Drumcondra at 1,380 while the smallest of the teacher training institutions, the Church of Ireland College of Education, has 47 first preferences.

- John Walshe Education Editor

Irish Independent