Applications for higher education surge to record level

Applications for universities and other higher education institutions in Ireland have surged this year by 8.5% to a record 83,424. The final figure will be higher as late applications can be made until the first of May.

Much of the increase is down to rising demographics, as numbers attending secondary school continue to grow. There has also been a significant increase in applications from those over the age of 23; applications in this category have risen by 944 or 15%.

This year there has been a significant rise in the number of students applying under a disability access route which allows them to enrol on slightly lower entry requirements.

There have been 12,056 applications this year under the DARE alternative admissions scheme, which is an increase of 1,800 compared to last year.

Popular choices

Degrees in the health area – medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, etcetera – are among the most popular choices according to the statistics released by the Central Applications Office (CAO), which processes applications for all of the country’s higher education institutions, bar a few small private colleges.

They are also up in teaching and in construction-related courses such as architecture and engineering.

The latter is understandable given the deficit in Ireland’s infrastructure and the urgent need to build more houses. The unmet demand for housing is so great that two-thirds of young people aged 25 to 29 are still living with their parents, a much higher rate than in the rest of the EU.

Eurostat data show that the 25- to 34-year-old age group in Ireland has a third-level attainment of 65% compared to an EU average of 44%. The rate for 30-34-year-olds is 64%, marginally behind Cyprus at 66%, which is the highest across the EU.

Just over 71,000 students graduate in Ireland every year – 55% of whom are female and 45% male.

Four out of five are in employment when a survey is conducted nine months later by the Higher Education Authority; 11.5% are in further education or travelling. The remainder are unemployed, volunteering or engaged in home duties.

US trade wars

While the jobs outlook is good for Irish graduates at present, there is growing uncertainty given the EU's trade wars with the United States.

Ireland is home to many American pharmaceutical and IT companies. These are a target of President Donald Trump, who referred to them when the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin visited the White House with the traditional bowl of shamrock for St Patrick’s Day this week.

“Ireland has our pharma companies,” said the US president, who has made it clear he wants them back.

* The former Berkeley library in Trinity College Dublin has been renamed the Eavan Boland library in honour of one of Ireland’s greatest poets. She is the first woman to have a public building in Trinity named after her. Chancellor Mary McAleese said it was part of dealing with the university’s “colonial legacies”.

Born in Ireland in 1685, Bishop Berkeley was one of the greatest thinkers of his era, but the fact that he kept slaves prompted a successful campaign to rename the library.