Samuel Riggs | Editor
TCD have announced their intention of tripling the number of students coming to the college from Northern Ireland using a new feasibility scheme. Trinity has announced that they hope to reach the target of 8% of the student body originating in Northern Ireland, or approximately 300 students, by September 2015.
The scheme looks to reduce the number of A levels needed to be admitted to Trinity – currently, for admittance, a student must have taken 4 A levels, something which only 1 in 8 students do in Northern Ireland. Under the scheme, only the student’s best 3 A levels will be taken in to account when deciding admission – a student must score at least one A and two B’s to be eligible for the scheme, however.
All courses are included in this scheme, excepting Medicine, due to HPAT requirements. A maximum of 3 places on each course will be set aside for those availing of the scheme, which has been praised by NI Minister for Education John O’Dowd, saying that it sets a precedent for other universities in the Republic of Ireland, and that he is “pleased that the necessity for applicants from the north to have 4 A levels is being relaxed, as this has been one of the main barriers in the past.”
