Few CAO surprises, but medicine debate will continue

THERE are few major surprises in the cut-off points for third-level courses published today by the Central Applications Office (CAO).

But the near-perfect exam results needed for aspiring medicine students are likely to be the focus of further debate.

It is now two years since the minister Noel Dempsey announced plans to restructure entry methods for courses in health sciences, particularly those with high points demands.

But consultations are still going on as medical and academics experts argue the merits or otherwise of changing the current system, which restricts placement in the country’s medical schools almost exclusively to those with a handful of Leaving Certificate higher level A1s.

Given that slightly more than 600 people got four or more such grades last week, the writing was already on the wall for the 2,252 people who chose human medicine as their first choice of degree.

But the issue of limited supply of places aside, questions will be asked about the Government’s desire to genuinely meet its commitments to change the pressures faced by those who want to become doctors.

In their Programme for Government of June 2002, the coalition partners agreed to address the distortion of the points system caused by high points courses. The plan was to move to a system under which most medicine places would be reserved for those with a basic science degree, easing pressure on school leavers to score in the top percentile of Leaving Certificate results.

The morning after the this was published, almost 60,000 young people began the Leaving Certificate, knowing their counterparts a year earlier needed at least 540 points to get into a medicine course.

It might have been reasonable to expect some changes might have come about since.

Mr Dempsey appeared to be taking the initiative in announcing a graduate-only entry system in August 2003 but no changes have taken place since.

Three years after the Government’s formation, the points requirements for most medical schools has risen by at least 20 points, with 570 for NUI Galway the lowest cut-off point in this morning’s first round.

The discussions of the working group set up by Noel Dempsey and then health minister Micheál Martin are continuing, with their interim report suggesting more than a year ago that a mix of and degree holders and school leavers with 450 points or more compete for places through an aptitude test.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the points race, there may be further worrying news for the Cabinet as today’s cut-off points suggest interest in many engineering and technology courses is waning.

At ordinary degree and higher certificate level - replacing the old titles of diploma and certificate courses - places have been offered to all qualified applicants for almost 10% of the 350 courses. In other words, there appear to have been fewer applications than the number of places.

Around half of these were engineering and technology courses, which reflect a slight fall in demand for courses in these key economic sectors.

While the fall in demand for all such courses at this level is only down by 1% on last year, it does not augur well for Government policy, which aims to see more graduates emerging to meet the skills demands of hi-tech industry.

Elsewhere, there has been a slight increase in points needed for most teacher training degrees in the colleges of education this year.

Peadar Cremin, president of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick where primary teaching requirements have risen 30 points to 465 since 2001, said these figures are noteworthy in light of some negative publicity in recent times about the profession.

“It is gratifying to see ongoing interest in terms of applications and very high points for primary teaching here. Some of the candidates being offered places on the Bachelor of Education programme have 600 points,” he said.

This is one sector where Government aspirations are not falling too short, as plans to reduce class sizes with increased numbers of qualified teachers are being helped by growing interest in primary degree and postgraduate places.