DCU News
News at DCU

Dublin City University makes record number of CAO first round offers

Dublin City University will today make 3,300 first round offers to CAO applicants, a record number for the University of Enterprise.  This number includes applicants for St Patrick’s College and Mater Dei Institute of Education degree programmes who will register as DCU students in September 2015, a key milestone in the process of incorporation of the two institutions (along with the Church of Ireland College of Education) within DCU.  

While additional places have been made available wherever possible, points for many degree courses have continued to rise, particularly in career focused Business and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) programmes.

Significant changes for 2015 include:

●      Business programmes which include opportunities for students to study abroad in one of our partner universities increased in popularity again this year, with Global Business (France) and Global Business (Spain) increasing by 10 points.  Increases in Global Business (USA) to 580 and the introduction of the new Global Business (Canada) programme - 570 points -  are indicative of strong demand for programmes with a rich international study experience.   

●      Entry points for a wide range of programmes in DCU Business School have increased, including the highly popular Marketing Innovation and Technology (MInT) and Aviation Management programmes, both of which have increased by 20 and 25 points respectively to 470 and 455. 

●      In line with the increasing focus on STEM disciplines, DCU has offered additional places on a number of Engineering & Computing programmes.

  • Most Engineering programmes have risen to 400 points or above. 
  • Points for Computer Applications remain the same while Common Entry Engineering has increased by 15 points to 390.
  • Science subjects across the board remain popular, with Common Entry to Science up 10 points to 470 and Analytical Science up 20 points to 460.
  • Sport Science and Health, a programme which has experienced steady growth since 2010, is again up by 10 points this year to 500.
  • Actuarial Based Mathematics has this year stayed the same at 535, while Common Entry Mathematics has increased 20 points to 500.

●      DCU’s Multimedia programme remains very popular this year and has increased by 30 points to 445.

●      In Humanities and Social Sciences, the new Joint Honours offerings have all proven to be popular with entry points all close to 400.  DCU’s two Law degrees have seen a significant increase in popularity.  Points for both Economics, Politics & Law, and the BCL in Law and Society are up by 20.

●      DCU’s broad range of education offerings from the new DCU Institute of Education have all proved popular with the BEd for Primary Teachers rising to 470 points.

●      Early Childhood Education, a new programme being offered this year by DCU Institute of Education, is at 380 points. A total of 66 places on this programme have been offered.  

 Welcoming today’s announcements, DCU President, Professor Brian MacCraith said:

 “I am delighted to see continued growth in popularity for DCU programmes again this year.  Given our commitment to excellence in the STEM disciplines and their importance for national economic prosperity, I am particularly pleased to see increased demand across computing, engineering and science programmes at DCU.  Increases in other career-focussed programmes such as Aviation Management, Global Business, MInT and Multimedia echo current industry demands and indicate that students are making choices with career ambitions in mind.

Our figures also tell an encouraging story in relation to the incorporation of St Patrick’s College Drumcondra, Mater Dei Institute of Education and the Church of Ireland College of Education.  Students are clearly well-informed about the significant enhancement in the university’s offerings arising from the incorporation process.  We  look forward to welcoming a record number of students to the new DCU this year, helping to unlock their talent and the skills to enable them to flourish in their future careers.”