Dublin City University is standing over the right of its heads of departments to say what the minimum number of points required for courses should be.The academic council of the university insists that it will not leave places unfilled if there are eligible applicants.
However, individual heads of schools are being allowed to make an intervention and argue the case for requiring a minimum level of points.
DCU is setting a minimum of 300 points for one of its computer courses. It argues that students with less than this would not be able to cope with the maths required. This position is highly unusual.
A survey of 24 third-level institutions by The Irish Times found that 100 per cent stated that they would never leave places unfilled if eligible applicants were available.
Under the CAO system, the last applicant into a course sets the points level. A course may drop as much as 100 points if those applying for it have lesser points, on average, than applicants of the previous year.
Academic heads do not like to see points levels for courses dropping. There has been some concern in UCD, for example, that the drop in points required for science may result in a higher failure rate.
Last year, Dublin City University was embroiled in controversy when it cut the number of places on a computer course from 288 to 150. The university insisted this was not an attempt to exclude weaker students.
This year, DCU has set the points for the course at 300. It is unprecedented for a university to admit to such a policy.
Under new regulations at DCU, any head of department can "make a case" for setting points, a spokeswoman said.
Points in computer courses have tumbled in universities and institutes around the country. There are vacant places in dozens of courses.
The drop-out rate is particularly high in computer courses.
A report by the Higher Education Authority two years ago found that the drop-out rate in computers ranged from 30 per cent in TCD, to 40 per cent, on average, in the institutes of technology.