CAO celebrates its 50th anniversary, helping 1.5 million college students
Since its launch, the CAO has helped 1.5 million students take up third-level colleges.
The system through which applications are processed for undergraduate courses in Irish education, the Central Applications Office (CAO), is celebrating a milestone this year.
Since its launch in January 1976, the CAO has helped more than 1.5 million students take up places in third-level colleges. This year, they are celebrating 50 years at the service of prospective students.
Located on Eglinton Street in Galway, the CAO office is currently by a team of 17.
The CAO’s mission is to be the leading provider of centralised application processing services into higher education in Ireland.
The system was first introduced in response to universities struggling with high number of individual applicants, and the uncertainty that followed for the third-level sector as well as for the students.
Before the creation of the CAO, students had to apply separately to each university or college of their choosing, which often resulted in offers being made at different times and under different criteria.
For their first intake in 1977, the CAO had 14,845 applicants. Five HEIs were participating (UCC, UCD, UCG, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and Trinity College Dublin), with 69 courses in total on offer.
Speaking of the organisation’s establishment, general manager of CAO, Joseph O’Grady said: “CAO offers a high degree of convenience to applicants and their advisors. It also offers considerable economies and efficiencies to Higher Education Institutions in filling their course places. Fairness and transparency are the foundations of the system, as well as equality of treatment for both applicants and participating Higher Education Institutions.”
Since 1976, the organisation has been significant changes and technological advancements, with the 1990s seeing the addition of Regional Technical Colleges, Colleges of Education and Private Colleges, bringing the number of participating institutions to 45 at its highest point.
In recent years, the number of HEIs has reduced due to mergers, amalgamations and the recent establishment of technological universities.
In 1992, the HEI Common Points Scale was introduced by the participating Higher Education Institutions to provide a common approach to Leaving Certificate admissions. This was complemented by the CAO’s central evaluation software which helped to further streamline the admissions process.
Mr O’Grady explained: “All too often, CAO is incorrectly conflated with or used as shorthand for the Common Points Scale established by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to facilitate their admission decisions. The essence of the CAO is the fair and transparent way applications, offers and acceptances are processed, and the order of preference system.”
In 2000, the CAO’s application form went online, almost completely replacing the paper application process in a couple of years.
As the system was initially developed with Irish Leaving Certificate applicants in mind, an increasing demand from other cohorts of applicants has seen centralised scoring and resources developed for GCE and QQI Further Education applicants over the years.
Recently, there has also been a significant increase in applications from EU applicants wishing to study at an Irish Higher Education Institution.
The system also processes applications for mature applicants aged 23 years and over, applicants presenting other further education qualifications, as well as applicants who wish to apply for the HEAR and DARE supplementary admissions schemes.
By February 1, CAO had received 88,817 applications. Since that deadline, another 5,834 applications have been, bringing the total to 89,258 applicants for third level places.
