High college uptake could leave thousands disappointed

THOUSANDS of students waiting for a college place on Friday could be left disappointed as successful applicants have snatched up most of those offered last week. The Central Applications Office (CAO) has registered acceptances of 36,712 places from among 46,918 people offered a place on August 17.

The high uptake rate of more than 78% suggests there may be fewer places than in previous years for the record 20,000 CAO applicants who have not been made any offer at this stage. In recent years, less than 1,000 people receiving an offer in the second round had not already been given a place on one of their preferred courses.

With CAO staff crunching the numbers after the closure of acceptance deadline at 5.15pm yesterday, it will issue the next round of offers on Friday morning. Last week, the points needed for courses in arts, science, nursing and teaching were mostly higher than last year as a result of increased demand or applications from higher-scoring Leaving Certificate students.

But falling demand prompted a significant drop in points needed for degrees in engineering, architecture, law, and many study areas connected with the construction and property industries.

As the first of more than 2,300 graduates to receive degrees at University of Limerick this week were given their scrolls yesterday, its president assured them their predecessors are competing very well in the jobs market and that the number of UL graduates entering direct employment is still significantly higher than the national average. The college is awarding 47 PhDs this week.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin launched a campaign against cutbacks in education that are to take effect in the country's 4,000 schools, which open next week.

The party's education spokesman, Senator Pearse Doherty, said: "While we all know that we are in dire economic circumstances, we believe that our education budget must be exempt from Government cutbacks. In fact, it makes no economic sense to be cutting the education budget as it is crucial to our long-term economic recovery."