Entrance Exhibition awards – given to students who get the best results in second-level exams – will now be rationed to one student per secondary school, under new changes designed to diversify the award.
For EU students, they’ll have to compete with their classmates for the award, with only one award per country set to be handed out.
The new criteria means that the student who achieves the highest points in their school, subject to it being over 500 points, will be awarded. For students coming from other education systems, such as Northern Ireland or EU countries, they must achieve the equivalent of 500 points as a minimum in their final exams.
These new requirements mark a significant change from previous years, when students were awarded for achieving over 560 points or the equivalent, depending on where they were educated.
Should two or more students from the same secondary school or the same country earn the same amount of points, they will both be awarded.
However, students from these countries will be judged on where they’re living at the time of taking the test and must have lived in the country for the previous three years.
Entrance Exhibitions are awarded to first-year students on the basis of academic excellence in the Leaving Certificate or their national equivalent if they’re an EU student. Awarded to students who are just entering into a full-time undergraduate degree, it is hoped the changes will see an increase in those receiving the award.
The College’s Senior Lecturer, Dr Gillian Martin, brought the proposed changes to University Council in October. Martin said at the meeting that the limit of one student per school, or per country, will allow for a greater geographic and demographic representation.
Martin also explained at Council that, while the award ceremony will not change, there would be a need for two more ceremonies to deal with the likely increase in students receiving the award.
Due to the increase in students, Martin recommended that the usual €150 book token given to award recipients be reduced to €100 to accommodate the cost of more ceremonies. However, the Council voted to maintain the €150 award per student, though allowed for revision in the future if necessary.
Speaking to The University Times, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Education Officer, Alice MacPherson, welcomed the changes to the award: “I think it doesn’t look good when you’ve got one school with 30 people and some schools with none and obviously they’ll still have to get the points and things, but I think it will make it a lot more prestigious and make it a lot more worthwhile for the students.”
No changes will be made to the sizarships, which are awarded to entrance exhibitioners of limited means, with the implementation of the new criteria, according to Martin. Sizars are entitled to eat Commons for free up to the end of their second year. She noted that, with these changes, which will see students from all demographic types awarded, an increase in sizarships is likely.
In 2013, the College decided to no longer include the 25 bonus points for maths as part of the criteria for the Entrance Exhibition awards and decreased the prize from €300 to €150.
