State’s third-level entry requirements deterring students from the North - ESRI

Adapting third-level entry requirements to make them more attainable for school leavers from Northern Ireland could increase numbers and be of “important symbolic value” say the authors of a new ESRI report.

Just 1,255 undergraduate students from Northern Ireland attended higher education institutions in the Republic in 2020/21, making up just 0.6 per cent of the State’s total third-level student body, according to the report on barriers to student mobility jointly compiled by the ESRI and the Shared Island Unit at the Department of the Taoiseach.

The situation is not helped, the report suggests, by the fact that while school leavers in the North can apply for third level through the CAO system, the points they are awarded are based on four A-levels, when few actually do that many.

The language requirements for many third-level institutions in the State also act as a deterrent, as significantly fewer students in Northern Ireland take a language as one of their A-levels compared with the proportion of Leaving Certificate students who sit at least one.

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“An adjustment of the points equivalences would likely make studying in Ireland a more realistic option for those from Northern Ireland,” said Emer Smyth, research professor at the ESRI and, along with Merike Darmody, an author of the report which is to be announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris on Monday.

“Although only one barrier to mobility, a change would have an important symbolic value in being seen as welcoming to students from Northern Ireland,” she said.

Mr Harris said it is his intention to make cross-Border study no more difficult for students than taking up a third-level place in the jurisdiction in which they live.

“I am committed to working with higher and further education institutions and with partners in the UK government and Northern Ireland to make it as easy as possible for students to choose to study in either jurisdiction,” he said. “This is really important in deepening our connections both north/south and east/west and in ensuring that young people have access to the best possible educational opportunities.”

Recent figures from the CAO suggested applications this year from school leavers in the North had declined to just 1,200. The ESRI report finds that take-up is then particularly low even when offers are made, which the authors suggest may indicate students using the CAO application as a safety net.

A number of the State’s third-level institutions have recently expressed concern about the low numbers citing the contributions made by continued Leaving Certificate grade inflation – A-level grades have reverted to pre-pandemic levels – and the later timing of Leaving Cert results and, consequently, CAO offers.

Trinity College indicated it was looking at the possibility of establishing a quota for applicants from Northern Ireland.

Of those taking up places in the State’s third-level colleges, a majority attend courses either in Dublin or the Border region. Those who move further afield are disproportionately attending medical courses.

The report, meanwhile, finds the number of students from the Republic taking courses in Northern Ireland is also low at just 1,170 in 2020/21. The number attending courses across the rest of the UK is said to be stable at around 4,000 although tuition costs and other economic factors, it suggests, have had the effect of encouraging a growing number of students to attend courses in mainland Europe instead.