Science and computing are back in fashion as school leavers turn away from possible careers in sectors such as law and property

PRESTIGIOUS engineering degree courses are finding it difficult to fill their places despite the record demand this year.

Poor Leaving Certificate maths results remain a major cause of the gaps that colleges are trying to fill.

Entry to honours engineering requires a minimum of a C grade in maths higher level. But a relatively low number of Leaving Certificate students take this paper and not enough get the high results.

Some universities and other colleges are running special exams this week to give students a second chance to demonstrate that their maths is up to the grade required.

Dublin City University (DCU) has posted vacancies on its eight engineering programmes and the National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM) has places to fill on its four engineering courses

On a more positive note, the overall number of college vacancies after the first round of CAO offers this week is lower than at the same time last year.

The CAO had recorded 23,445 online acceptances from first round offers by 5.00pm yesterday, up about 2,000 at the same time last year.

A welcome turnaround in popularity for science and computing this year has boosted the uptake in these disciplines and eliminated worries about empty desks. A higher level of acceptances for college offers made to other applicants, such as mature students, in recent weeks has also helped to fill desks.

Science and computing are back in fashion as school leavers turn away from possible careers in sectors such as law and property, which have suffered badly in the recession.

Demand for honours science degrees was so high that Dublin Institute of Technology trebled the number of places in its ordinary level science programme from 20 to 60. The number of applications from high-calibre students for science in all colleges was so high that had the DIT not opened the extra places, the cut-off points for its ordinary level degree would have been 470, a figure more associated with honours degree programmes.

In an example of the new demand for computing, DCU has experienced a turnaround in the fortunes of its Computer Applications Honours Degree, the biggest computing course at the Dublin university, which specialises in high technology.

After its early heyday, computing fell from favour with school leavers and, for the past four years, the cut-off points for computer applications courses was a lowly 300.

Last year, DCU was forced to advertise vacant places on the course, but a bounce in interest this year saw a rise in the cut-off points to 315, with no vacancies advertised.

Dr Stephen Blood, head of the DCU School of Computing, said they were "absolutely delighted. It is not where we were 10 years ago, but it is a move in the right direction. We have spent four years on 300 points."

Yesterday, the CAO posted details on its website of 157 courses with vacancies, down from about 220 in the same day last year.

While two universities have advertised engineering courses, a number of institutes of technology and private colleges posted vacant places for a range of other programmes, including business. There were 68 honours degree courses advertised yesterday and 89 at ordinary level/higher certificate.

Katherine Donnelly