Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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62. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the effectiveness of the HPAT examination as part of the examination qualification for entry to medicine courses; his views on recent reports that grind courses are being given to prepare students to perform better in this HPAT examination; if the HPAT examination is serving its purpose of broadening entry to medicine and ensuing a fair entrance system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18175/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Entry requirements for courses in medicine are determined by the medical schools of the relevant Universities. A group of representatives from these medical schools and the Higher Education Authority was established to examine the implementation of revised entry criteria for undergraduate medical programmes. Following recommendations from the group, the four universities with undergraduate medical schools, NUI Galway, TCD, UCC and UCD together with the RCSI decided to introduce the new selection mechanism in 2009.

The HPAT selection mechanism for entry to medicine is aimed at easing the pressure on students wishing to study medicine to achieve near perfect Leaving Cert results. The weighting given to HPAT is such as to ensure that the test has a meaningful influence on the selection process while at the same time incentivising and rewarding a strong performance in the Leaving Certificate without requiring the achievement of extraordinarily high points levels. The objective behind the HPAT system is to alleviate pressure on students wishing to pursue a career in medicine. It provides for a greater diversity of intake into medicine while maintaining the highest academic and professional standards in the field of medicine.