CAO’s available/vacant places list showed over 180 courses with available places before the issue of round two offers.

Where do you go from here, if you’re a college applicant, and have not received the offer you hoped for in CAO’s second round, or indeed, if you are an applicant who has not received any offer at all?

There are three main sources of opportunity now. They are:

• CAO’s list of vacant places
• Private college courses outside of CAO
• The Further Education sector

CAO’s available/vacant places list showed over 180 courses with available places before the issue of round two offers.

Many of the Level 8 courses that are listing vacancies are honours engineering degree programmes, particularly in the electronic/computing area. Remember, applicants must meet a Leaving Certificate higher-level maths requirement, usually grade C or higher, to qualify for a place on an honours engineering degree course, and this naturally reduces the pool of qualified applicants.

Most institutes of technology have available places in some of their Level 8 and many of their Level 7/6 engineering, science and business courses.

There are vacant places on most honours degree courses in the private fee-paying colleges, the American College, Dublin Business School, and the Institute of Business and Technology in Dublin, Griffith College in Dublin and in Cork, and The Open Training College.

They are all excellent colleges, but not everybody can afford to pay fees. Nevertheless, some parents may find it more economical to do so than to fund students living away from home.

Applicants to vacant places must meet the minimum courses requirements for the course in question. All Level 8 honours degree course applicants must have at least six subjects in the Leaving
Certificate, with at least two grade C3s on higher-level papers.

There is an extensive range of vacant places on Level 7/Level 6 courses, with some places available in every course in the college in some cases.

Requirement

The minimum entry requirements for Level 7/Level 6 (ordinary degrees and higher certificate courses) are usually at least five passes in the Leaving Certificate, including English or Irish, and maths.

Not all courses in the private college sector are offered through CAO. If the award at the end of the course is made by an Irish awarding body, like HETAC (the Higher Education and Training Awards Council), application is made directly to the colleges.

Many of the private colleges offer, in addition, degree programmes that lead to degrees awarded by British universities and applicants apply for these directly to the college. This year, students apply directly for all courses at Independent College Dublin and HSI College in Limerick.

Many students will turn towards the PLC/FE (Post-Leaving Certificate/Further Education) sector in 33 vocational education committees around the country. Around 30,000 students enrol in such courses annually.

Most PLC/FE courses lead to an award from FETAC (the Further Education and Training Awards Council). Check with your local VEC, or look up the IVEA website, for a list of FE/PLC colleges.

Many students will progress with a further education (FE) course, and either move directly into employment, as many FETAC graduates do, or move to a related third-level course under one of the higher education links schemes (HELS) that operate between FETAC and the higher education institutions (HEIs).

Mary O’Donnell