Jack Leahy | News Editor
Following the recommendation of a task force established by the Irish Universities Association (IUA), the seven Irish universities are set to adopt a new set of admissions criteria for applicants from Northern Ireland. The move to soften restrictive grade conversion rules comes as Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, and NUI Galway continue to roll out separate pilot schemes aimed at increasing the number of Northern Irish students in their cohort.
The new rules will see applicants starting university in September 2016 benefit from up to 30 additional points per grade band. Previously, a student who achieved the highest A-Level grade, the A*, would be awarded an equivalent 150 Leaving Certificate points.
However, as the majority of students in Northern Ireland – and particularly those in state-run schools – only study three subjects for their state exams, most were excluded from higher-points courses in the likes of health sciences, history, English, business, and law. Only one second-level student in eight in Northern Ireland studies four A-Level subjects.
However from 2016 an A* grade will now be worth 180 Leaving Certificate points, while lower grades will increase in value by 15 points (A grade) or between 5 and 10 points.
The announcement affirms recent endeavours by universities to increase the number of Northern Irish students on their campuses. Since 2013, Trinity has run a Northern Ireland Engagement Programme, which has seen “student ambassadors” from each of the six counties accompany Northern Irish staff members on school visits.
In July 2014, the College announced that it was launching a ‘feasibility study’ in cross-border admissions, and was exploring alternative mechanisms for admission, grade conversion, and proportioning. Commenting on its launch, Provost Patrick Prendergast said that the scheme represented “something important for the whole island of Ireland.”
“Trinity has historically been a university for the whole island, attracting students with ability and potential from every county. Unfortunately in the last few years our numbers from Northern Ireland have been in decline, and this has been a source of deep regret to our alumni, our students, our staff, and to me personally.”
1,383 students from Northern Ireland applied to attend a college in the Republic in 2015. This figure represents a 15 per cent increase on 2014, but less than 2 per cent of overall applicants.
The IUA task force reported that “those A-Level applicants who are not sitting four A-Levels cannot realistically compete”. This led to the exclusion of students who would “regularly be offered places in the most competitive UK universities and courses”.
Correction: 23:20, March 30, 2015
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that students applying from Northern Ireland were disadvantaged because bonus points for mathematics were not available to them. This is not true, and students in Northern Ireland who achieve a Grade E or above in one of A-Level Mathematics, Further Mathematics or Pure Mathematics will have 25 points added to their score, once it is one of their points-bearing subjects, similar to Leaving Certificate students.
Photo by Sergey Alifanov for The University Times
