James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 672: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason there is no centralised application process in place for masters degrees, as currently each application made on line to individual colleges costs €40, which restricts the number of programmes for which an applicant can apply in view of the financial constraints; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22543/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The online application fee for post graduate courses varies between universities and is currently in the range of €35.00 to €37.50. In general the fee charged will cover applications for between 3 and 5 programmes of study within an individual institution. Applicant suitability for the majority of postgraduate courses is generally assessed on the applicants' own merits, and may include consideration of completed projects, relevant work experience, or other relevant criteria. Therefore, it is not readily converted to a numeric score as is done by the CAO for applicants to undergraduate courses.

The Postgraduate Applications Centre (www.pac.ie) provides a central applications point for taught and research programmes in DCU, UCC, NUIG, NUIM and TCD. Unlike the CAO process, applications through the PAC or directly to institutions are entirely independent of each other, which affords students flexibility in applying for and accumulating offers before making their choice. The system also provides for a rolling offer and acceptance process throughout the year.