Lower CAO points for agri-courses
The CAO points required for entry into most of the country’s agriculture courses fell again this year.
The points required for entry into UCD’s level 8 Agricultural Science course fell by 4, to 451.
It’s the third successive year the points for entry to this course have fallen, following steady increases in entry points required from 2007 to 2015.
Similarly, the points for entry fell for three of the country’s other level 8 courses — IT Tralee’s level 8 Agricultural Science course, GMIT’s level 8 Agriculture and Environmental Management course, and Dundalk IT’s Agriculture course.
Points for the three fell by 16, 1 and 14 points, to 330, 301 and 327 this year, respectively.
However, Waterford Institute of Technology’s level 8 Agricultural Science course bucked the trend, with an increase of 14 points required for entry.
The fall in points required for entry to most agriculture courses is in line with the general fluctuation in points this year.
Overall, there’s a points drop for entry to around half of all courses.
The fall in entry points for agriculture courses in recent years is not seen as due to reduced student confidence in job opportunities in the sector.
CAO statistics from earlier in the year showed that, despite a fall in the overall number of students applying for places on agriculture- related courses, there was a 6% increase in the number of students indicating an agriculture related course as their first preference.
It was a similar trend for most other agriculture-related courses in UCD, with the entry points for the level 8 Dairy Business course falling by 19, to 432, and the points for Agri and Environmental Science falling by 22, to 397.
However, there were increases in points required for entry to UCD’s courses in Food Science (up 18 points), Human Nutrition (up 12 points), and Forestry (up 7 points).
Points for Nutritional Sciences at UCC increased by 23 points, to 507.
Points for entry to the level 8 Agricultural Engineering course at IT Tralee fell by 20 points to 300.
Points for level 8 Agricultural Engineering at GMIT increased by 25 points, to 330.
Points also fell for entry to most level 6 and 7 agriculture courses, except Waterford Institute of Technology’s level 7 Agriculture course, which increased by 18 points, to 367.
Similarly, the points for entry to Letterkenny Institute of Technology’s level 7 Agriculture course increased by 9, to 225.
Entry points for the level 7 Agriculture course at Cork Institute of Technology fell by 3, to 289 this year.
