by Kathy Masterson
THIS year’s CAO figures show that applications from Leaving Cert students to the University of Limerick have risen significantly, with points increasing in 73 per cent of the university’s courses.
Altogether 89 per cent of UL programmes saw CAO points either increase or remain unchanged.
49 of UL’s 67 programmes registered a CAO first round points increase with the average increase at 23 points.
An increase in demand for UL programmes was apparent from the initial CAO application closing date in February, which indicated that first round preferences for the university were up by 14 per cent on 2014 figures.
The total number of applications for the University of Limerick has also increased by nine per cent compared to this time last year.
UL vice president academic and registrar, Professor Paul McCutcheon welcomed the results: “It is encouraging to see an increase in demand for UL’s STEM programmes as we are committed to supporting Ireland’s success as a knowledge economy by encouraging larger numbers of students to study science, technology, and engineering.
“Our business programmes have also seen increases across the board reinforcing the quality of the education and student experience on offer at UL.”
He continued: “The message of UL graduates’ significant employability advantage is not lost on applicants or their parents. Every year, 66,000 students graduate from higher education institutions in Ireland but UL graduates are 22 per cent more likely to have a job after graduation than a graduate from any other Irish university.”
Among the areas experiencing an increase in demand was the university’s science, engineering and technology programmes, with 23 of 29 programmes at the Faculty of Science and Engineering registering points increases.
Points have also increased for maths programmes with Financial Mathematics (440) and Mathematical Sciences (435) registering increases on last year’s points.
Business programmes at UL’s Kemmy Business School have seen an increase in applications across the board leading to an increase in points for the majority of programmes, while construction-related programmes also saw increases.
In the area of healthcare and sports science, demand was up for all four of UL’s nursing programmes, while the Physiotherapy programme is still the highest in the country and is up to 560 points.
A number of Education and Arts programmes also saw increases in points with the BA in Journalism and New Media course up by 50 points to 415 and the BA in Economics and Sociology increasing by 45 points.
