In July 2023, Minister for Further Education, Simon Harris unveiled a new pathway for students to access further education. Minister Harris announced that 23 courses would be available across the country under this new Tertiary Degree scheme. But what does this mean for current Sixth Years? Here are some key points:
Courses on offer as part of this scheme include Business, General Nursing, Software Development, Media and Sustainable Engineering Technologies.
The main feature of this scheme is that students start their further education journey in their local college of Further Education and Training College (ETB). After a year or two (depending on the course), students then move to the affiliated university to complete their degree.
While each course has several entry requirements, no CAO points are required. The entry requirements depend on the course and can be found in the course information here.
You do not apply through the CAO, rather you apply here from 1st February for the 24/25 intake of students. Alternatively, you can contact the appropriate person for more details on the application procedure. Contact details can be found by clicking into the relevant course here. Applications close on 27th September 2024 for the 24/25 intake.
Every course under this scheme is a pathway to either a Level 7 or Level 8 degree on the National Framework of Qualifications.
A student is dually registered with the ETB and the university from Year 1 of study. This means that students can access facilities and services in both the ETB and university including libraries, health services, academic support and sports facilities.
In terms of cost, there are no tuition fees while the student is attending the ETB portion of the program. After that, students will need to meet the eligibility criteria for the Free Fees Initiative while studying at the university.
Students undertaking the tertiary scheme can apply for the SUSI grant. Applications for SUSI grant usually open in April time.
Applying for one of these courses does not prevent you from applying through the CAO, to a PLC course or to UCAS. Keep all options open!
This is a revolution in accessing further education and fingers crossed over the coming years more options will be added to the list of courses currently available! If you would like to discuss these new Tertiary Degrees in more detail, please get in touch!
Book a One to One session with our Career Guidance expert Cara to discuss further!
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