The CAO points system was created in the 1970s when our universities were never provided with the resources to develop to the point where they could accommodate all those who met the basic matriculation entry requirements.
As pointed out by EU ombudsman Emily O’Reilly at the Erasmus Plus conference in Dublin Castle yesterday, Ireland’s membership of the EU is providing our prospective college students with alternatives.
Due to the low birth rate in many continental EU countries, universities and other third-level colleges, including many appearing in the top 100 on world rankings, are finding it difficult to attract enough applicants who meet basic matriculation requirements.
Living in a land of CAO points this may seem amazing. Even more amazing is the fact that as EU citizens every Irish applicant must be treated in the exact same way as home-based students.
What really opens the door for Irish applicants is the means by which these colleges are seeking to attract applications from outside their native populations. In recent years many have begun to offer their degree programmes taught exclusively through English. The number of such degree programmes is now over 800.
Many Irish students are now looking to Europe as part of their third-level choice options. This process has been greatly assisted through the development of the eunicas.ie website by Guy Flouch, an Ennis-based expert on the European education system. His website contains advice and details of all of the courses now offered through English in Europe.
Other than for some medical and paramedical courses, continental EU fees are quite modest by Irish standards, where registration charges for 2014 stand at €2,750, rising to €3,000 in 2015. In the Netherlands where over 40 per cent of these programmes are offered, fees of €1,850 apply, although their liberal arts programmes can be €1,000 higher. Scandinavian countries charge no third-level fees. Irish students who qualify for a third-level grant may take this with them to a publicly-funded EU college.
