In order to help mitigate the impact of the changes to the Leaving Certificate system, I announced the creation of an additional 2,225 places on high-demand courses in Higher Education Institutions. These places have resulted in the highest ever number of applicants receiving a CAO offers, with 53,815 CAO applicants receiving round one offers on Friday 11th September.
While the subject areas and institutions in which these courses will be provided have been identified, the exact courses were left at the discretion of the HEIs in order to allow them to respond flexibly in the areas that were seeing the greatest pressure. The final picture will be available at the end of the CAO's offer process, when all places have been filled.
A summary of these places by subject area is in the table below:
-Subject Area
|
Additional Places
|
Architecture
|
23
|
Arts & Humanities
|
476
|
Business
|
430
|
Creative Arts
|
41
|
Dentistry
|
18
|
Education
|
170
|
Engineering
|
313
|
Law
|
142
|
Music
|
9
|
Science
|
220
|
Information Technology
|
31
|
Nursing
|
134
|
Medicine, Health & Physical
|
218
|
Total
|
2225
|
The number of unfilled places in 2019 is a matter for the HEIs, and this data is not held by my Department.