Vol. 450 No. 4
22 Mr. Boylan asked the Minister for Education her views on University College Cork holding a special examination in German for students wishing to study German in either the arts, commerce or law faculties; if she will have this practice stopped; her further views on whether this practice undermines the value of the leaving certificate German; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5095/95]
My view is that the college should use the leaving certificate German results for the purpose of the second selection. The effect of the special college examination is that students who may have good German results in the leaving certificate and who wish to take German in their degree course might be obliged in their degree course to choose an alternative subject. Moreover, as the CAO offers are still in progress, the timing of this special examination is unfortunate.
However, the selection of students for admission to the college is a prerogative of the college and I have no function in the matter.
This special examination is a departure from general practice where leaving certificate results are accepted as a recognised level of proficiency for admission to third level. To my knowledge, it is the only instance where another layer of examinations is used by a third level institution to select students for study of a foreign language.
