SINN Féin’s education spokesperson Pat Sheehan has welcomed recommendations contained in a new report that would enable more students from the North to attend university in the Republic.

The report by Universities Ireland has recommended changes to the CAO points assigned to A-Level grades in the North, which will enhance the opportunities for students to access university courses in the South.

Students from the North who take three A-Levels find it impossible to achieve enough points to attend university across the border.

West Belfast MLA Pat Sheehan welcomed the new recommendations. 

“Sinn Féin have long called for this barrier to north-south enrolments to be addressed," he said. "In the past northern students were subject to admissions processes that made it almost impossible for them to access a place in the south.

“While this is an important step forward it is in many ways a starting point. We would also like to see northern students who study Additional Maths at A-Level being given similar bonus points to those in the south and for the clearing system to be more aligned so that A-level students can receive notification of their place more quickly.” 

Minister for Further and Higher Education in the Republic, Simon Harris, welcomed the report recommendations.

“This report has recommended significant and important changes to address points equivalencies between the Leaving Certificate and A-Levels,” said Simon Harris.

“The recently published ESRI on North-South higher education student mobility highlighted the negative impact of current points assigned to A-Levels. It noted that it is only possible to achieve the maximum 625 points by taking four A-Levels and one of them has to Maths. However, the number of students taking four A-Levels is very small, thereby restricting numbers coming from Northern Ireland.

“I welcome the recommendations that A-Level candidates be allowed to use the best three A-Levels, in combination with a fourth A-Level or an AS Level or an extended project. There are further issues to work through but I believe this is a very good step.”

Eimear Currie, Fine Gael spokesperson for Northern Ireland, welcomed the recommendations as a first step to harmonise third level opportunities across the island.

“The numbers really speak for themselves,” she said. “Student mobility North and South has been dismally low. In 2020/21, according to an ESRI report, just 0.6 per cent of northerners came South to further their education.

“That amounted to just 1,255 students while nearly 14,000 went to the UK. Systemic barriers have stopped students who live on this island and who want to study in Dublin, Cork, Galway or elsewhere from being able to do so and I think we’ve all lost out because of those missed connections.”

The report’s recommendation must now be accepted by each University’s Academic Council, and it is the Minister’s hope that this revision will be in place for the students looking to start their studies in September 2024.