Students to qualify for medicine without top marks

STUDENTS entering fifth year next autumn will be the first to qualify for medical school places without achieving top marks in their Leaving Certificate, Education Minister Mary Hanafin has announced.

The minister will reveal details later this month of the CAO points students will need — in combination with their performance in an aptitude test — to be eligible for undergraduate medicine courses.

Ms Hanafin and Health Minister Mary Harney are awaiting the final report of an expert group which is examining the issue but it is expected that the cut-off point will be at around 450 points out of a maximum of 600.