Last Friday 7th July saw an historic change in third-level education in Ireland and a move away from the points system and dominance of the Leaving Certificate.
Simon Harris TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, announced that, from September, undergraduate students will be able to earn a university degree without need a Leaving Cert.
Students will be able to enrol in one of 23 joint degree courses across healthcare, enterprise, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and creative sectors. They can do this in their local Further Education institution in counties across Ireland. They can then progress to a higher education institution. The purpose of this new structure is to move away from the traditional CAO process and offer more flexible options for people in their education.
Speaking about the change, Minister Harris said: “This is the single biggest transformation to education in decades. We know the points system has not worked for many of our young people. Today we can tell the next generation of students they can access degrees in nursing, business, engineering and media without ever having to worry about points. This is the start. We have much more to do but today, we change the system and ensure the learner is at the heart of all we do.”
Minister Harris referred to the need to change “the unnecessarily stressful points race” and stated that “just because someone gets less points in their Leaving Cert than someone else, does not mean they should lose out on the opportunity to pursue their dream career.”
He said that an important part of the change was to create a “more inclusive society in which students will have the opportunity to reach their potential without relying solely on an outdated system.”
Our Project Officer Conor Thompson attended the launch of the new system last week. He particularly notes the focus on “seamless progression” from Further Education to Higher Education. Before this, progression was available but not in this structured way across the entire country, with a guaranteed place for people who progress from their FET course to Higher Education.
He also was particularly struck by the inclusion of “Step Back” awards in the new system, where it is acknowledged that every step of the education journey counts and if students wish to leave or “step back” from their course, they can still gain a certificate or diploma.
Working with Minister Harris and the Department on this are Dr Alan Wall, CEO of the Higher Education Authority and Nessa White, Executive Director Transformation at SOLAS, as well as Dr Fiona Maloney, Director of the new National Tertiary Office and Fiona O' Byrne, Principal Officer at the Department of Further and Higher Education.
Alan Wall noted that Technological Universities are already leading the way on this, with 25-40% of students from non-traditional routes – for example, people who didn’t go through the CAO route – already enrolled. In the Technological Universities, he said, 12-15% of students from Further Education are already in the first year of their programmes.
Nessa White emphasised that the new system has been co-developed and co-delivered and that the new Unified Tertiary Education System will be “unified not uniform.”
Dr Fiona Maloney stated that the new system is “designed for everyone” and will mean people can study in their local communities.
AONTAS welcomes the prioritisation of the learners’ experience and the flexibility at the heart of this new structure, as well as Minister Harris’s statement that there is “no one route” to achieving your educational goals, and that “no route is better than another.” He said that in Ireland we have “been capping people’s potential for far too long.”
This move reflects calls made in recent years by AONTAS – and the learners we work with – to make the Irish education system more equal and accessible.
Read about our work on the new Unified Tertiary Education System.
Read about why this change is needed directly from adult learner and advocate Kayla Dibble.
Article by Dr Kate Smyth, Strategic Comms Officer