1 All aspiring students should be enabled to register on-line their interest in attending a college in the CAO system in the year preceding the commencement of the academic year in question. They should pay the appropriate fee at that stage, without having to indicate course choice at that stage, if they so wish.
2 The very small minority of aspiring students applying for courses that require a portfolio presentation, aptitude test or interview, which must take place many months before the commencement of the programme in question, should have a separate application form, with an early closing date. This should happen now.
3 All other aspiring students should be enabled to apply for whatever courses they so wish right up to hours before the places on the courses are allocated. With modern technology this is perfectly possible and it would allow aspiring students to factor in every possible consideration, including their Leaving Certificate results. Choices made at that late stage would be far more likely to be wise ones and taken following serious consideration. Technology has made this possible. Use it for the benefit of all applicants.
4 A considerable number of students vacate places in the first semester of every academic year. Following semesterisation and growing modularisation, where students take two distinct sets of programmes each academic year, it should be perfectly possible to offer these vacated places, through the CAO in January each year, to interested students. This development would facilitate students who wished to change courses without forcing them to sit it out doing nothing until the following September. It would also facilitate those who might not be in a financial position to take up a college place in September, but might be able to do so following a further four months of work. It would also facilitate students whose grades are upgraded by the State Examinations Commission in mid-October each year. Finally, it would maximise the use of valuable college resources, which are currently lying unused because there is no mechanism to fill places vacated other than in the first few weeks of term.
5 The CAO should dispense with the publication of the CAO booklet, which is inaccurate the moment it is published, due to the ongoing nature of course changes in colleges. It is perfectly possible to maintain an up-to-the-minute, downloadable, database of every course currently available. It already exists on the Qualifax website, www.qualifax.ie.
6 Finally, simplify the rules and procedures for adults returning to education. Currently there are no standardised rules and regulations for adults among the various colleges - even between different departments within the same college. Adult learners are not an afterthought in out education system and they should have the same priority as school leavers.
BRIAN MOONEY
