Medicine places may still be up for grabs for students
Education Minister Noel Dempsey announced last August that places on high- demand courses would only be available to degree holders from 2007 to ease pressure on school-leavers seeking top points in their exams to gain entry.
But a working group set up by Mr Dempsey and Health Minister Micheál Martin to implement the plans has proposed that entry also be open to a number of Leaving Cert students.
The group, including medical school deans, medical profession representatives and public servants has suggested that aspiring medical students should be chosen based on aptitude tests as well as Leaving Cert results. They claim this could reduce the points required for medicine from a minimum of 570 last year - the equivalent of 4 A1s and 2 B1s - to 450.
Based on Central Applications Office (CAO) statistics for last year, this would increase the annual number of eligible school leavers from around 1,000 to 9,000.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) welcomed the proposals, which were presented to Mr Dempsey recently as part of the working group’s interim report.
“Multi-stream entry, if handled correctly, would improve access for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and would give honours graduates a second chance to enter the medical profession,” said USI president Ben Archibald.
But he warned that interviewing candidates for entry should be ruled out as it might militate against untraditional medical students.
He also said graduates entering medical training should not be charged fees in the same way students on postgraduate courses are.
A final decision on the future of selection for entry to medical courses rests with Mr Dempsey, who is expected to make an announcement later this year.
However, it is unclear if any changes will come into effect for next year’s Leaving Cert students, who must choose their college courses through the CAO before the end of next January.
The annual points race will begin again in just over a week’s time, following the release of Leaving Cert results to almost 60,000 students next Wednesday.
The first round of offers for third-level college places will be made by the CAO the following Monday, August 23.
