More college places going to non-Leaving Certificate students

THE proportion of college places taken by non-Leaving Certificate students has risen but school leavers still filled more than two-thirds of all college vacancies this year, according to official figures. Statistics from the Central Applications Office (CAO), which helped more than 40 colleges fill 42,117 places on their courses this year, show that 4,552 - or almost one in nine - places were taken by mature students, who are categorised as applicants aged 23 or over.

They represent 10.8% of all places accepted this year - up slightly from 10.5% of acceptances in 2007.

Almost 4,500 people with previous third-level qualifications or who had enrolled but not completed another higher education course, also accepted places this year. They represent almost 11% of applicants.

The proportion of third-level entrants with a further education qualification rose from 9.9% a year ago to 10.2%, or 4,309 of places allocated by the CAO.

Almost seven out of 10 places were taken by students who sat the Leaving Certificate last June, down very slightly on the last year. These 28,936 people represented almost 68% of 2008 school leavers who applied for places, giving them by far the highest success rate of all categories.

A little more than half of the almost 8,000 further education qualification holders seeking places were successful, but this was a lower success rate than in 2007, while fewer than half of those applying as mature students obtained a college place.

Although the figures might suggest that Leaving Certificate students are being kept out of third-level education by other applicants, they should be considered in the context of rising numbers of colleges and places on offer.

The 42,000-plus places on degree and other courses filled through the CAO this year is almost 5,000 more than in 2003 and compares to just 35,061 places on offer a decade ago.

Leaving Certificate students are the only group who secure a higher proportion of places than their share of overall applications.

Higher Education Authority (HEA) chief executive Tom Boland said the figures show that it has never been easier for people to look at going into higher education.

"I would particularly encourage those who may have left school early or who never had the opportunity to go to college to now explore the possibility of doing so," he said.

The statistics are also an indication of the widening links from further education or Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses to higher education institutions, which increasingly recognise those qualifications for entry to degree courses as an alternative to the Leaving Cert.

Less than 300 people who applied with A-levels from Northern Ireland or Britain registered on courses this year, a reflection of the drop in such applications from 2,193 in 2007 to 1,654.