Mr. Lewis Purser:

A number of committee members have raised the issue of reform of the points system and how the leaving certificate fits into this, etc. As Mr. Costello said, we are doing significant work at the moment on selection and admission to higher education and we are consulting a range of stakeholders such as the NCCA, the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, guidance counsellors and so on. One of the areas under discussion is the development of greater common entry routes into first year. Over the past ten years, there has been a proliferation of first year entry options within all the higher education institutions. Some of this was in response to specific labour market demands, as combinations such as computer science and German or X and Y were wanted. We found with hindsight that while those specific courses worked in certain cases and for certain small cohorts of students, it led in the round to a massive complexity in first year options for ordinary students and significant additional pressure on them because of the small number of places available on many of these courses. By the nature of the small number of places and additional competition, the points soared upwards. In some cases, the universities were guilty of playing that game blatantly and they have recognised that.

The considered move at the moment within each university is to try to reduce the number of first year options for students. For example, in the field of law, all universities have a first year law programme, a general entry into law, but they also have law with French or German or other options. The intention is to bring back first year law without reducing the number of options available for students in second and third year. A leaving certificate student will not use a specific code to apply for the course; it will be an option he or she can take when he or she is on the course. Some universities have gone a significant way down this road and it appears to be working. UCD, for example, gives all students these options clearly in their briefings before they apply and they can express their preferences when they apply. UCD, therefore, knows what they would like to study down the road and can start planing for that in advance. The points no longer creep up every year because of the availability of a small number of places on courses.