Trinity Seeks NI Students

Trinity College Dublin has launched a new initiative to help triple the number of incoming students from Northern Ireland.

The move is in response to a recent decline in numbers from Northern Ireland and Trinity has announced a feasibility study to find a new way of admitting A-Level applicants from across the EU. This will then be tested in the first instance for applicants from Northern Ireland.

The Dublin university is hoping to reach a target of 8% of the student body being from Northern Ireland by September 2015.

Provost of Trinity, Dr Patrick Prendergast, remarked recently at the inauguration of Pro-Chancellor Sir Donnell Deeny, founder of the Ireland Chair of Poetry, and judge in Northern Ireland: "We must all aim to reverse this decline in Northern Irish numbers. Trinity has been, since its foundation in 1592, an all-island university and that must be maintained.

"Unfortunately in the last few years our numbers from Northern Ireland have been in decline, and this has been a source of deep regret to our alumni, our students, our staff, and to me personally. With this feasibility study Trinity has acted to restore and re-establish a relationship that has done so much to build close links on this island between people from all backgrounds and traditions."

Over the last year Trinity has embarked on its Northern Ireland Engagement Programme (NIEP), visiting schools and careers fairs with student ambassadors from the current study community and reconnecting with schools, parents, teachers and alumni.

The feasibility study is seeking to remove what Trinity says is one of the biggest obstacles: the fact that only one in eight students in Northern Ireland take four A-Levels.

To prepare for admission in September 2015, Trinity is to admit a number of students from Northern Ireland, looking purely at the best three A-Levels of the applicant. A maximum of three students per course will be admitted using this route.

Irish Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said: "An all-island approach to education brings immense benefits to both societies. I am delighted to see Trinity finding innovative ways to attract students from Northern Ireland to study here at third level. I know that the university sector as a whole continues to work collectively towards enhancing opportunities for Northern Irish students to enter Irish university programmes. I very much welcome this collaborative approach."

Northern Ireland Education Minister John O’Dowd said: "I welcome this initiative from Trinity which will make studying there much more accessible to students from the north. I am pleased that the necessity for applicants from the north to have four A levels is being relaxed, as this has been one of the main barriers in the past. I look forward to similar approaches being taken by the other universities in the south."

(IT/CD)