Last week saw first round offers sent to students that completed their Leaving Certificate and a worrying statistic was the drop in the number of students choosing an agricultural science course as their first preference.
The Central Applications Office (CAO) revealed that students selecting an agricultural science course as their first choice course to study fell by 6% on 2024.
The opportunities to study agricultural science have never been stronger, with options for students to study an agriculture related course right across the country from counties Galway, Dublin, Waterford, Cork and in many other counties in between.
However, the issues stem at primary and secondary level where students are not exposed to Ireland’s primary sector, agriculture and the importance of the sector in terms of food production, the environment and the economic value of it to the economy.
Speaking on the findings of the CAO revealed last week, Agri Aware Chairman Shay Galvin said: “The accessibility to study agricultural science at third level has never been stronger. We have colleges right across the country offering excellent courses. The challenge is in the second level space in particular, an area that Agri Aware has targeted for some time with its transition year programmes.”
Agri Aware in partnership with the Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB) are determined to buck the trend and get numbers picking agricultural science as their first choice on their CAO in the years to come. This is through a newly developed programme called ‘Intro to Ag’, that gives transition year students a flavour of what it like to study agricultural science at Leaving Certificate and also the career opportunities the sector has to offer to entice students take up a course in the field of agriculture.
Speaking about the Intro to Ag programme, Mr. Galvin added: “The Intro to Ag programme developed by Agri Aware in partnership with the LOETB that is going nationwide this September will hopefully be the beginning of the reversal in the decline in students choosing agricultural science as their first choice. This programme not only offers a taste of the Leaving Certificate agriculture science curriculum but also provides students with the opportunity to see careers paths in the sector has to offer.”
“With over 10,000 students already signed up to the programme, we are hopeful and committed that come 2028, when the first group of Transition Year students have completed the programme and decided to then pick up agricultural science as one of their subjects for the Leaving Certificate that we will see positive change in numbers opting to go to agricultural colleges as their first preference on their CAO application.”
