INCREASED STUDENT demand for third-level courses in science and technology will be insufficient to meet the needs of industry, according to Engineers Ireland.
The group said that while the increased interest in science and related courses was encouraging, employers continue to have an urgent need for graduates with critical numerical skills. It said there are 1,200 posts in maths-related areas such as pharmaceutical and biomedical engineering which firms cannot fill.
While increasing in popularity, science and technology courses account for only 21 per cent of Central Applications Office programmes. Arts and business courses still dominate the CAO system, accounting for more than 40 per cent of courses on offer.
Student interest in engineering courses also increased this year but the points requirement was similar to last year in many cases. This is because students needs a C3 or higher in higher-level maths in the Leaving Cert to obtain a place on these courses.
About 8,000 students took higher maths in the Leaving Cert; only 16 per cent of the student cohort.
“Despite the encouraging trends evident today, the reality is the number of students moving into third-level engineering and technology sectors needs to be much larger. We are still behind the curve . . . more needs to be done to guide a critical mass of students towards third-level courses that will enable them to find jobs and support Ireland’s economic recovery,” said Engineers Ireland communications director Fionnuala Kilbane.
Engineers Ireland also raised concern about the lack of expertise among many second-level maths teachers; more than 40 per cent did not study the subject at degree level.
Ms Kilbane called for a concerted drive to ensure teachers had the essential maths qualifications to allow them to teach the subject.
“Teachers are doing their best but it is patently obvious that there is a dearth of them with the comprehensive understanding that is necessary to teach the subject. There must be continuing professional development for these unqualified maths teachers because if they don’t have the basic skills, we must ensure they get them,” she said.
She added that students need earlier advice on the merits of maths and its relevance to enable them “develop numerical competence”. This would lead them towards third-level courses geared to career progression and help meet the existing skills deficit that exists in the economy.
This year marked shift in CAO choices away from arts and business and toward science. Broadly, the points requirement was down for a range of business courses.
However, Dublin City University was one of the few colleges to buck this trend. Applications to study business at DCU increased this year. The most popular business course is European Business (Transatlantic Studies) which is run jointly with Northeastern University Boston, the leading US university offering work placements and which offers graduates two degrees: BSc International Management (North Eastern University, Boston) and a BA in European Business from DCU.
Other DCU business degrees which continue to prove popular are those combining business and languages, in particular European Business with French and European Business with Spanish.
“The importance of work placements, whether these are in Ireland or overseas, has never been more obvious in dictating the growth and popularity of degree programmes. I have no doubt that the reason we have bucked the national trend for business degrees has been because we offer work placements as an integral part of all these programmes,” said DCU president Prof Brian MacCraith.
Points for the majority of DCU programmes have risen this year, with significant increases in Digital Media Engineering (+80), Analytical Science (+45), Biotechnology (+55), Psychology (+20), Computer Applications (+15), Multimedia (+15).
* The National Parents Council post primary is appealing to all third-level institutions and PLC course venues to offer prospective students the facility to pay the €2,000 registration fee in instalments for the coming year due to the financial pressures on families.
