Professor Emer Smyth:

To go back to our discussion of guidance earlier, Northern Irish schools are, on the whole, more oriented towards the UCAS system, although some schools will cover CAO applications, so that route is taken for granted. There are also broader cultural issues. We saw from recent ARINS research on attitudes North and South that a significant proportion of people from Ireland have not visited Northern Ireland and do not have any ties there. That can be an issue as well.