Although applications to British colleges from the Republic have been falling in recent years, 14,550 students from the Republic were studying in UK colleges in 1996. Of these, some 10,000 were undergraduates. At a record high in 1995, 13,402 students from the Republic sought third-level places in the UK through the third-level applications office, UCAS. This fell to 12,029 in 1996, and the number is likely to be around 11,000 for this year.
A number of factors are involved: the decline in the numbers taking the Leaving Cert; the impact of the transition year programme; and the abolition of third-level undergraduate fees in this State.
Despite these factors, Irish students accounted for more applications to UK colleges in 1995 and 1996 than all other EU countries combined.
The fee component of the Dearing Report, to be amended slightly by the British government in a Bill due for publication in September, is likely to reduce applications to UK colleges still further.
This has implications for the CAO/CAS applications system in this State. Most students who apply to UK colleges also apply to the CAO, with 3,000-4,000 eventually accepting UK offers; with the introduction of fees, some of these will now be forced to place their hopes entirely on Irish college places.
In 1995 almost one-third of all students from the South who were studying in the UK were based in Northern Ireland, and Southern students account for 13 per cent of the student population in the North, a trend which provoked the Ulster Unionist MP and party deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, to criticise Southern students for taking places meant for students from the North.
The Dearing Report states that Northern Ireland is a special case - there are four proposals for increasing the number of third-level places, including expansions of the University of Ul- ster and Queen's - and should be considered as such when its recommendations are being applied.
Participation rates among young Protestants from manual backgrounds are particularly low - 27 per cent compared to 43 per cent among Catholics - and there are fears that the income thresholds proposed, combined with the removal of maintenance grants in favour of loans, could exacerbate this situation.
If the fee proposal is applied in the North, it will also lead to more high-achieving Northern students seeking places in the South.
"It will provide an alternative for a lot of students, particularly in the Border counties," said Mr Nigel O'Connor, Northern convenor for the National Union of Students, "but it will be on an incremental, year-to-year basis."
