CAO points fall for most agri courses
The CAO points required for entry to most of the country’s agriculture courses fell this year.
The fall is in line with the general trend of a reduction in CAO points required for entry to many courses this year, as the points race appears to have slowed down. It’s the second successive year of falling points for entry to UCD’s level 8 Agricultural Science course.
The fall in points for agriculture courses is not being seen as a sign of reduced confidence in the sector among school leavers, with CAO statistics from earlier in the year showing a 17% increase in the number of CAO applicants indicating an agriculture related course as their first preference. Instead, the fall in points is being attributed to reforms in exam grading and the CAO points system.
The points required for entry into UCD’s level 8 Agricultural Science course fell by 5, to 455, this year. Similarly, the points required for entry to the level 8 Agricultural Science course in Waterford Institute of Technology fell by 11 points, to 389.
Points for Dundalk IT’s level 8 Agriculture course fell to 341, from 355 last year.
There was an increase, albeit small, in points for two agriculture courses. The level 8 Agricultural Science course in the Institute of Technology Tralee increased by 1, to 346, while the level 8 Agriculture and Environmental Management course at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology increased by 2 points, to 302.
It was a similar trend for other agriculture-related courses in UCD.
Points for the level 8 Agri-Environmental Science course fell to 419 this year, a fall of 11. Points for Food Science and Human Nutrition also fell, by 19 and 21, to 466 and 509, respectively.
Food Science at University College Cork fell by 12 points, to 453. The most notable increase was the 11-point increase required for entry to Dairy Business at UCD. Points for the agricultural engineering level 8 course at the Institute of Technology Tralee also fell by 15. Points for entry to the new Agricultural Engineering course at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology were set at 305, while their level 7 equivalent course required 289 points for entry.
It was the second successive year of an increase in the points required for the Institute of Technology Tralee’s Agricultural Engineering level 7 course, up 5, to 270.
Level 6/7 courses
The points also fell for the level 7 Agriculture courses at Waterford and Letterkenny Institutes of Technology, to 349 and 216 points respectively.
Points are unchanged this year for the level 7 Agriculture and Environment Management course at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology at 290, with an increase of 3 points for Agriculture in Tralee.
