The lowdown on CAO 2016

For the most part, the CAO of 2016 saw a drop in points required for agriculture courses across the board. Agricultural Science in UCD dropped 10 points to 460 this year, the first time points for this programme have dropped in nine years.

This news is not entirely surprising given CAO data released towards the end of July showed there was a 27.4% decrease in the number of students putting an agriculture/horticulture course down as their first choice this year, compared to last. It seems students are beginning to turn their heads towards courses in areas linked to building, such as engineering and construction.

Level 8 Agriculture

Agricultural Science in WIT dropped by 15 points to 400 this year, and the same programme in IT Tralee dropped 25 points to 345. Dairy Business in UCD dropped five points to 440. This is the second year DkIT have offered Agriculture through direct entry in the CAO and the points changed only marginally, from 355* in 2015 to 355 this year.

IT Carlow introduced a Level 8 Sustainable Farm Management and Agribusiness course for the first time this year and points for that were 320. The points for the (also new) Level 7 version of this course were 285.

Level 7 Agriculture

Level 7 Agriculture in Cork IT dropped 20 points to 340. Agricultural Science at IT Tralee dropped 10 points to 290 – this is the fourth consecutive year points for this programme have dropped. In a reversal of trends, Level 7 Agriculture in WIT rose five points to 385.

In its second year to be offered, the Level 7 Environment Management in Agriculture course in LIT (run at the Thurles campus) came in at 220 points.

Veterinary

It’s not often points fall for veterinary, but would-be veterinary students would have been happy to see that this year they did (although not by much) – they dropped to 570 having stood at 575* in 2015, 2014 and 2013.

Food Science

This year, IT Sligo introduced two new courses in this area – a Level 7 and Level 8 Agri-Food Science course, and points were 315 and 260 respectively. For the most part, points for the other food science-related courses increased or remained the same, with the exception of Food Marketing and Entrepreneurship in UCC, the Dietetics course and Food Innovation programme in DIT, Human Nutrition in IT Sligo and Health Science and Nutrition in Athlone IT. Culinary Arts courses, for the most part, dropped in points this year.

Home Ec

Home Economics with Irish rose significantly by 70 points to 445 this year. Home Ec with Economics rose by five points to 420*, while Home Ec with Biology and Home Ec with Religious Education both dropped by five points (to 485* and 435 respectively).

GMIT

Agriculture and Environmental Management and Rural Enterprise and Agri-Business have both been run at Level 7 in GMIT for quite a while (points for these programmes were 290 and 280 respectively, the latter a 20-point jump from last year). But this year these courses were introduced at Level 8 for the first time. Students can now apply for direct entry through the CAO to these courses at either Level 7 or Level 8. Points for both of the Level 8 versions of these programmes came in at 300.

Veterinary Nursing

Points for veterinary nursing in UCD remained the same at 465. UCD is the only college in Ireland that runs a Level 8 veterinary nursing course. Points for the Level 7 veterinary nursing programmes dropped nationwide. In DkIT the points dropped by five to 390, points dropped by 10 to 360* in Letterkenny IT, and points dropped by 15 in Athlone IT.

Ag Engineering

Level 7 Agricultural Engineering rose 45 points to 265 at IT Tralee, while the Level 8 version of the programme at the same college rose 10 points to 335. Level 6 Agricultural Mechanisation at LIT rose five points to 290.

Courses not running this year that ran last year include Culinary Arts and Food Technology at Letterkenny IT and Level 7 Food Science Innovation with Agribusiness at IT Tralee.

*Random allocation: Not everyone with these points was offered a place CL