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The story of Leaving Cert 2017 seems to be that points for agriculture courses have dropped – but against a backdrop where points for a lot of courses in many different sectors have also dropped.
Over 52,000 Leaving Cert students received CAO offers this morning in a revamped marking system which sees points change from multiples of five and ten to a range of different figures. In some cases, this is seeing points for some courses increasing by just one. Changes were made this year to how the paper was graded, and to how grades were converted into points.
Points for Ag Science in UCD have dropped five points to 455 from 460 last year. This is the second year in a row for points for this course to drop. Last year, points dropped from 470 to 460 but in the decade up to and including 2015, points had dropped just once. From 2007 until 2015 points steadily increased to 470 from 315.
This downward trend in UCD is being reflected in ag courses right across the country. Waterford IT’s Level 8 Agricultural Science programme has dropped for the fourth year in a row – to 389 from 400 points. Points for WIT’s Level 7 Agriculture programme have dropped from 370 last year to 349 this year.
Level 7 Agriculture in Cork IT has dropped to 292 from 320 last year while Ag Mechanisation in Limerick IT is down to 217 from 225. Level 8 Agricultural Engineering in IT Tralee sees a 15-point decrease to 320. However, there was a points increase in IT Tralee’s Level 8 Ag Science programme – it rose from 345 to 346 points!
Food science
Points for the two best-known Food Science courses in the country also dropped. Food Science in UCD dropped from 485 to 466 points while points for Food Science in UCC dropped from 465 to 453.
Veterinary Nursing is a mixed story. UCD is home to the only Level 8 veterinary nursing course in the country and points for this course have increased by two, to 467 from 465 last year. The Dundalk Institute of Technology programme increased to 400* from 390. Level 7 Veterinary Nursing in Letterkenny IT has dropped to 358 from 360* while the veterinary nursing programme in Athlone IT has also dropped, to 401 from 410.
Equine Science in University of Limerick has climbed to 366 this year from 360 last year.
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