The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has recommended that "serious consideration" be given to a proposal that students would not go straight from school into "high points" third-level courses such as medicine and law.
The HEA, the Government body charged with funding and overseeing universities and third-level colleges, calls for "a radical restructuring of entry to third-level education" in a submission to the Points Commission.
The authority's chairman, Dr Don Thornhill, said yesterday: "Second-level education is being distorted because of pressure from the points system, arising from a small number of professional courses.
"In many countries entry to such courses is at postgraduate level. The postgraduate option is not the only one. Students could also make their choices at the end of first or second year."
Dr Thornhill said if such an approach were adopted, students would "make their career choices when they are more mature and better informed". He said there could be additional costs because courses might be longer, but these "must be weighed against the benefits".
In its submission, the HEA says there would be "very significant benefits" for both students and the second-level system if entry to some or all of the courses which "drive the competitiveness of the points system" were reorganised.
Medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, physiotherapy and law were the courses cited.
"If this were done the intensity of the competition for the relatively small number of places - 600 places on healthcare courses, for example, out of 18,000 or so degree places available - would no longer influence teaching and learning at second level and would allow for a more holistic approach to education at this level."
The HEA says students wanting to study medicine-related courses could take subjects from the general science degree course in the first and perhaps second years; if they were then not successful in getting on to one of the professional courses, they could continue towards a science degree.
Another approach would be to encourage entry by suitably qualified science graduates into fields such as medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. Similarly, law could become a postgraduate discipline with initial entry through the humanities, social sciences or business faculties.
The HEA warns about the growth of specialised courses with a small number of places which force students to decide on very specific subject choices when they approach third level. But the HEA's overall conclusion, however, is that "while every effort should be made to refine the detailed structure and processes of the points system, it is unlikely that a more satisfactory system - consistent with the principles of equity, transparency and simplicity, efficiency and cost-effectiveness, positive educational value and effect on personal development - can be devised."