Your education questions answered by Brian Mooney.

I am a 19-year-old Leaving Cert student. I am keen to pursue a career in physiotherapy. I changed school last year in order to study a second science subject (chemistry along with biology). I have applied through the UCAS system, because I feel I will not get the points necessary to study the course in Ireland. I have been unsuccessful in four UCAS applications. I have completed work experience in this field on two occasions. I want to pursue a career in physiotherapy in Ireland. Could you suggest an alternative route in the event that I do not get the required points?

As with all courses in the medical and paramedical field, competition is fierce for places in Ireland. First, let me clarify, for our student readers, the role of the physiotherapist. Physiotherapists identify and maximise movement potential in patients recovering from injury or disease. They work on hospital wards, in outpatient departments, fitness centres, and sports clinics, in occupational health care or in education or health promotion.

There are four colleges offering degree programmes in physiotherapy in the Republic of Ireland - TCD, UCD, the Royal College of Surgeons and the University of Limerick. The points requirement in the current year were 540 in UCD and TCD, 535* in RCSI and 570* in UL. In Northern Ireland, the University of Ulster at Jordanstown offers physiotherapy to Leaving Cert students, but requires a score of between 550 and 570 points - although where a student secures a higher grade A in two science subjects, a points score between 495 and 555 may secure a place. As you stated in your question these are very high points requirements, which you may not reach.

There is an alternative route, that you might consider. The IT Carlow offers a two-year programme in physiology and health science, CW001. It is a certificate programme, which required 420 points for admission in 2005. It can lead onto a two-year honours degree in human physiology and rehabilitation. Graduates of this course go on to work with professional, semi-professional and amateur sports clubs and organisations in third-level colleges and universities, in rehabilitation institutions or sports-injury clinics, or with national governing bodies of sport (the GAA, IFA, IRFU etc).

The second alternative is the three-year ordinary degree, SG435 in health science and physiology at IT Sligo. This course required 335 points for admission purposes in 2005. Graduates of this course may progress on to the honours degree in public health and health promotion.

Graduates of either the two-year certificate programme in IT Carlow or the three-year ordinary degree in IT Sligo can apply to transfer to full physiotherapy degree programmes in the UK.

I am aware that Bradford University attend Carlow IT and interview the final-year students of the certificate course. Successful applicants can take a three-year physiotherapy degree in Bradford, followed by an 18-month placement, which is paid.

Graduates of the three-year degree at IT Sligo have been similarly successful in securing places in physiotherapy programmes in the UK.

For physiotherapy and pharmacy and other medical and paramedical courses, both Brighton and Sussex are very good colleges for Irish students to consider. Robert Gordon and Queen Margaret universities also have a reputation for taking many Irish students.

The Irish Times highlighted the issue of Irish students attending UK colleges having completed an initial course of study following the Leaving Cert earlier in the year, when we published figures that showed that two-thirds of students securing places in degree programmes there had taken this option.

If students only have one science subject at Leaving Cert, they would do well to start a science degree st an Irish university and apply each year to the above-mentioned colleges. It would be a good move if students are very determined to gain entry to a healthcare degree programme in the UK.

• Brian Mooney is president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. E-mail questions to bmooney@irish-times.ie