THERE HAS BEEN a significant increase in environment courses at both Level 8 and Level 6/7, as well as a 289% increase in first-preference applications for Level 6/7 education courses, data from the Central Applications Office (CAO) shows.

Overall, there has been a 9% increase in the total CAO applications this year compared to last, with a 136% increase in applications from other EU countries.

There were a total of 84,526 applications to Level 8 or Level 6/7 courses, compared to 77,831 applications last year.

There were 5,256 applications from other EU countries, and 968 from Great Britain. There were 1,431 from Northern Ireland, representing an increase of 1% on the previous year. 

Level 6/7 

For Level 6/7 courses, there was a 289% increase in first-preference applications for education courses, and a 182% increase overall (second, third preferences, etc).

Environment courses saw a 34% increase in first-preference applications, and a 56% increase overall. There was a 27% drop in first-preference and a 38% drop in all applications for programmes and qualifications involving agriculture, forestry, and veterinary. 

Social and behavioural sciences saw a 46% increase in first-preference applications, with a 39% increase overall.

Biological and related sciences saw a 16% first-preference increase.

Level 6/7 journalism courses saw a drop of 38% in first-preference applications, though there was a 26% increase in applications overall.

Level 8

Environment Level 8 courses saw a 50% increase in first-preference applications, and a 74% increase overall.

There was a 42% increase in first-preference applications for journalism and information Level 8 courses, and a 49% increase overall.

There was a 20% increase in first-preference applications for medicine courses.

There was a 30% drop in first-preference applications for Level 8 interdisciplinary and qualifications involving arts and humanities, as well as a 29% drop overall for those courses. 

Manufacturing and processing courses saw a 28% drop in first-preference applications, and transport services saw a 51% decrease on last year.

Last Wednesday, Round A of CAO offers were issued, with nearly 6,700 students receiving offers for Level 6, Level 7 and Level 8 courses. All offers must be accepted before 3pm tomorrow.

The next round of offers, Round Zero, is due on 5 August. A reply must be received on 10 August.

Leaving Cert results aren’t due to be released until 3 September, under an assessment mixed between Calculated Grades and written exams. The Round One CAO offers are due at 2pm on 7 September, and Round Two from 10am 20 September.