The current points system at third level is flawed and should be scrapped, an influential group from the computer industry has suggested.
Students are currently selecting subjects based on their points value, not on their intrinsic merit, the Irish Computer Society (ICS) claimed.
The present points system was fundamentally "unsound", the group said, because it confused the academic standard achieved with competitive performance in the so-called points race.
"It leads students to select subjects on the basis of the perceived difficulty of obtaining good grades, and can discourage them from taking technical subjects," said Mr Frank Cronin, chief executive of ICS.
He said the points system "pressurised" students to select subjects perceived as giving a "higher proportion of good grades".
"These subjects are generally not the more technical ones, such as computing might be in the future, and students can be inhibited from taking them as a result," said Mr Cronin.
He said the current system was "basically flawed" as it tried to do the impossible by using "one measure to represent two different outcomes" - the academic standard achieved by the student in a subject, and his or her competitive performance compared to other students.
"A better approach would be to give each student a competitive ranking in each subject as well as an academic grade, and use the former to arrive at the overall competitive result. Such a change would be easy to implement," said Mr Cronin.
He said this would encourage students to select subjects they had an aptitude for and it might also reverse the decline in the numbers taking technical subjects.
The group also criticised the provision of computer tuition in schools. "Ireland lags behind other EU countries in the provision of computing education at second level. For example, in England in 2002 over 26,000 students sat the A-level examination in computing. In Ireland, the corresponding number was nil - computing is still not on the Leaving Cert curriculum."
There is a lack of understanding of the educational value of computing, the group said. "The subject draws upon and can illuminate areas as diverse as philosophy, logic, linguistics, systems theory, and mathematics. It develops abilities in analysis, critical thinking and organisation. Its absence from the curriculum is a serious educational shortfall as well as a failure to address the needs of the economy," said Mr Cronin.
The ICS was founded in 1967 as the national body for information and communication technology professionals in Ireland. The organisation has more than 1,000 members and expresses its views to Government on subjects such as budgets, taxation, data protection, education and training.