Universities across Ireland faced criticism in August when some were accused of artificially raising CAO points. Caroline O’Keeffe looks at what this practice involves, and why it is done.
Every year the CAO (Central Applications Office) process thousands of applications to third level institutions using the Leaving Certificate points system. This system awards places in colleges to students on merit, or how many points they achieved in their Leaving Certificate.
In the past 39 years the system has undergone many changes. In the beginning, course places were awarded based on points alone. What was originally designed as a transparent gateway to third-level education based on points has evolved and now has a number of exceptions to the rule.
There are now a number of other factors such as disability, disadvantage, age and sporting ability. As well as rising demand, the new pathways make it increasingly more difficult for candidates applying based on points alone to secure one of the limited places on courses. The number of applications is set to increase by 39 per cent in the next ten years which will significantly increase the intensity of the competition for college places.
The continuing improvement of the Irish economy was reflected in this year’s application pattern. Many courses saw significant points rises, including Law, architecture, engineering and business. UCD deputy president Dr. Mark Rogers said in response to this year’s application statistics: “Applicants should always make their course choices based on their genuine interests and aptitudes, and not on any short-term movements in the labour-market.”
Something which is making the process more competitive is the practice of inflated points. This is a controversial system which sees colleges offering more specialised courses, many with fewer than thirty places (there are twelve within UCD alone). This increases the competition and keeps the CAO points artificially high.
Fianna Fáil Education Spokesperson Charlie McConalogue commented in August: “This is an extremely serious issue that is affecting hundreds of students across the country. Universities are effectively using the points system as a marketing tool to make their courses appear more competitive and elusive, and in the process of doing this are shutting eligible students out of their programmes. The universities have never made a secret of the practice, and its prevalence has perpetuated the fallacy that high points courses are more prestigious, which is not always the case. This has exacerbated the points race and has heaped even more pressure on already stressed-out Leaving Cert students.”
The changes announced for students set to sit the Leaving Cert in 2017 will hopefully alleviate some of the pressure faced by students. They aim to reduce the number of students who face random selection due to having the same points as many others by changing the points brackets. Instead of going up by 5, points will increase in in multiples of eight and fifteen. Points will also be awarded to students who achieve between 30% – 39 per cent in higher level papers. Formerly students only received points for scores above 40 per cent.
Minister for Education, Jan O’Sullivan said: “The new system is about marking achievement, not rewarding failure.” This has been described by the Department of Education as the most significant reform of Leaving Cert grades and the CAO regime in more than two decades. The number of grades has been reduced from fourteen to eight. Minister for Education, Jan O’Sullivan said: “I hope that the changes proposed will not result in unhelpful and misplaced commentary about rewarding failure which does our students a real disservice.”
The system of awarding bonus points to maths will remain in place but they will not be awarded to students who achieve a H7 (30-39per cent) or less. A group set up under the department is to review the effect of bonus points in maths. They will also examine the possibility of introducing subject-specific bonus points to reward students who are continuing a Leaving Cert subject at third level. Minister O’Sullivan said: “The Leaving Cert should be a challenging exam but the pressure built up around it must be released.” Education Chiefs claim the new system will encourage more to take higher level papers.
Many changes will occur in our education system in the next number of years. The minister hopes they will reduce the pressure on students at exam time and enable them to have a broader and more-rounded learning experience in their senior cycle.
Universities also need to make an effort in a number of ways. They need to comply and look at reducing the number of honours degree courses that they offer and they need to work against the idea that students have that higher points courses are more prestigious. This is definitely not always the case. The points system should be in place to help students achieve the course they want. The practice of artificially raising points exists only to give a false sense of prestige and importance to a course. With the predicted reforms in the Leaving Cert system in the coming years, this should become less of a problem.
Advertisements