In Ireland, students often spend a significant amount of time choosing which colleges they will list on their CAO form. What’s less common is colleges picking which students they’ll put in their classes. This is beginning to change. As Louise Duffy recounts, 2012-2013 was the year when Trinity decided passivity is not the only option when it comes to who they end up educating.
Photo: TCD Communications
Louise Duffy | Senior Staff writer
This year, three major initiatives that may cause significant changes to Trinity’s usual student demographic were formulated or executed. These were the Pilot Scheme on Admissions Reform, the 2012-2015 Global Admissions Strategy and the Student County Ambassadors initiative.
Pilot Scheme on Admissions
The first initiative, the Pilot Scheme on Admissions, caught the attention of the national as well student media on several occasions this year. The pilot scheme, which will see factors other than CAO points taken into account in admissions processes, is planned to be rolled out on a limited basis in 2014. This year saw the launch of the high-profile scheme at an event in the Mansion House attended by, among others, the Director of the CAO and the Dean of Harvard Admissions.
In order to understand why Trinity felt it was necessary to carry out such a scheme, it is helpful to look at the college’s admissions data. Trinity gets a huge chunk of its students from South Dublin’s private schools. The disproportionate intake from this one source leaves many wondering whether it’s plausible that these are in fact the best students in Ireland, or whether more diversity might better serve the college community.
The aspect of the scheme that will most directly target students who haven’t been able to convert their potential into top Leaving Cert points is the ‘Relative Performance Rank’ (RPR). The RPR will see students whose Leaving Cert results were exceptional in the context of their own school given priority over those who may have done better but whose scores were more normal compared to their classmates.
The aspect of the scheme that will help out those whose learning style didn’t lead to huge leaving cert success will be the contextual information component. Students will be given a chance to say why they want to study their chosen course at Trinity, and will be given an opportunity to demonstrate ways in which they may have already been engaged in activities that show their dedication or flare for the subject. A example would be the success of a student in the young scientist competition. This component of the decision making process gives recognition to the reality that the Leaving Cert is not in fact always the best indication of potential for success at university, with third level courses often demanding less rote-learning but a lot more critical thinking.
The Pilot Scheme will in its first year involve 25 students across 3 courses: Law, History and Ancient and medieval History and Culture. However, if the scheme is successful, it may be rolled out on a much wider basis. Further, the scheme is being conducted on behalf of all the universities on the island, so a successful few years could lead to a massive change in third level admissions all over Ireland.
County Ambassador Initiative
This year also saw the introduction of the student county ambassador scheme. The project involved at least one student from every county in Ireland making a video about their experiences of Trinity life, which were then uploaded onto the ‘Trinity Explore’ website.
While the idea seems at first glance to be a fairly general one promoting all kinds of admissions, the scheme is in fact more specifically targeted towards encouraging those from outside of Leinster to apply to for college places. Trinity has never considered itself a regional university, but rather a ‘university for the whole island of Ireland’, and thus is courting a more geographically even intake of students. While Trinity does better than most in attracting an even intake, there are consistently certain black spots. From example, the 2011/12 intake of first years contained just four students from Fermanagh and just one student from Armagh.
However, the rapid progress of the scheme (with every secondary school in Ireland now having been notified of its existence), doesn’t seem to be slowing. It looks likely that the concept will be expanded upon, with students being asked to put themselves forward as course ambassadors and even society ambassadors.
2012-2015 Global Relations Strategy
Trinity’s efforts to diversify the student population weren’t confined to recruiting a more even spread of students from the 32 counties; it was also looking outwards. On the 10th of September this academic year, while most of us were living out the last of our summer, Eamon Gilmore was launching Trinity’s new Global relations strategy
The strategy is no doubt an ambitious one. One particular point of interest is that college is hoping to double the number of non-EU students. It is thought that the bulk of the increase will come from Asian countries, in which the demand for high quality education is growing rapidly. Trinity, already boasting a student population featuring individuals from 122 countries, is determined to be going only one way in terms of student diversity.
Looking Forward
As the initiatives this year suggest, Trinity is headed in a new direction as regards admissions. Given a few years and a bit of luck, the composition of the student body of Trinity College Dublin will be more diverse, more international, and more interesting than ever.
