Thousands of students waiting to receive CAO college offers

Thousands of students will receive college places on Thursday as the first round of CAO offers are released.

More than 84,000 students will be anxiously awaiting offers, which are due to be released from 2pm on the CAO website.

However, universities will be using a lottery system this year to select student for high-point courses due to the volume of students with inflated grades from the 2021 examinations, and a higher number of applicants.

These high-grade courses include medicine, dentistry and finance.

Random selection is expected with many courses topping 550 points this year.

The Government had created an extra 1,000 places this year in certain high demand courses in an attempt to contain CAO point levels.

Applicants will receive their college offer via text message and email if they have selected this option, and this will be sent from 1.30 pm.

Applicants are advised to accept their offer without delay, while acceptance for round one offers will continue until September 14th.

Round two offers will be released on September 19th.

Reform

However, college representatives are urging the Minister for Education Norma Foley to accelerate plans to reform the Leaving Cert.

The call comes following the 3-week delay in results this year and the knock-on impact on students going to third level.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI), the Irish Universities Association (IUA) and the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA) say the delay has exacerbated the problems with student accommodation and inflated grades, resulting in an increase in more places in third level being allocated by random selection.

The union is calling for the Government to to expedite the Leaving Cert reform process over a 3-year time frame in order to address the pressures and challenges faced by students and resolve the issues that have arisen in recent years.

Jim Miley, Director General of the IUA said: “Our analysis of the results timeline shows that Ireland is out of step with most of the rest of Europe. In an increasingly mobile international student market, this puts Irish students at a serious disadvantage. We urge the Minister to expedite the reform process in the interest of students.”