This year, applications to first-preference colleges for arts, environment, and language courses saw a sharp increase.
However, nursing and many other health-related courses have seen the greatest declines. Popular fields like science, business, law, and science are also seeing a slight decrease in enrollments this year.
The latest Central Applications Offices figures (CAO) as of March 1st show that there are 78,000 college applications this academic year, which is a 1.5 percent decrease from last year.
There are less mature applicants than 2021 (-25%), but this has been partially offset by an increase of EU (+16%) and British application (+9%).
CAO points are likely to remain at the record-breaking levels of last year due to Norma Foley, Minister for Education, promising that Leaving Cert grades won’t be lower than last.
Particularly strong interest is shown in courses related to the environment, which have one of highest increases in first preferences this year (+35%).
Climate and sustainability
Universities claim this is reflected by an increase in applications to courses that are linked to climate change or sustainability.
UCD says that applications to its interdisciplinary degree program in sustainability have increased 43% while those applying for city planning or environmental policy have increased 44%.
Languages (+17%) and Architecture and Construction (both up 6%) are other areas where there has been a significant increase in applications.
Arts (+6%) and Humanities (+4%) are up again for the second year running, reversing a trend in declining applications in recent decades.
Furthermore, interdisciplinary courses in arts and humanities are on the rise (+59%).
It is remarkable to see the arts rebound at individual universities. Maynooth University, for instance, reported that its popular arts program, which has the highest number in first-preference CAO courses, is up by 11% this year.
Trinity College Dublin has a similar trend. There is a high demand in arts and humanities courses, such as English studies (+21%) and European studies (+23%), and philosophy (+54%). UCD also stated that its humanities course (+29%) had seen a significant increase.
Mid-wifery down
The largest decreases were in the health sector, such nursing and midwifery, which are down 27% compared to last.
The overall health sector (-13%) has a dissimilar pattern. Pharmacy is down (-7%) and physiotherapy is down (9%), while medicine is up (+14%).
Also, agriculture is down sharply (-19%) as well as smaller sectors such as transport (-50%) as well as hygiene and occupational health services (41%).
Business and administration is still a popular field of study, but it is slightly lower than last year (-3%)
This year’s mixed bag in the Stem (sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics) area is not good.
Social and behavioural sciences are down (-6%) and biological and related science are down (2%) respectively, while physical science is rising (+5%)
ICT is on an upward trend (+6%) this year, but engineering is unchanged.
The most recent data may change if late applications are considered when the CAOs change-of-mind facility closes on July 1.
