Some courses are said to already be “maxed out” with student numbers.
On Wednesday this week it was announced by Education Minister Norma Foley that around 6,500 Leaving Cert students received a lower grade than they should have on their exam results.
This was reportedly due to two errors in the computer code used to generate the marks, and the Department of Education stated that anyone who is now entitled to a different course due to the higher results will be offered a place.
However, the director of the Irish Universities Association Jim Miley stated that this may not be possible: “Because of those extra places that are already in the system, there simply are not places left in some courses.
“We hope that students can be accommodated but it may well be a situation where there simply is not a place for a student on certain courses. In that scenario, the only option is to offer them a place but it would have to be deferred until next year.”
An additional 2,000 course places were already made available in anticipation of grade inflation before the results were announced, but Higher Education Minister Simon Harris believes there could be the need for an additional 1,000 places on top of that following these results errors.
Miley continued: “Where possible, Universities will be as flexible as possible in facilitating a change, provided there is a place available on the higher preference course.
“The advice for students is hold out another few days and hopefully we will get this information from the Department of Education as soon as possible and certainly universities will lose no time in processing that information as soon as they receive it.”
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