Fewer young people are choosing to study agriculture and veterinary-related disciplines, with the number of CAO applications to these courses down across the board this year.
All third level courses offered in Ireland are classified into various ‘narrow fields’ of education, five of which relate to the agriculture, forestry, veterinary and environmental sectors.
Figures from the Central Applications Office (CAO) have shown that 13,185 people applied to these five fields in 2022, however, that has fallen to 11,571 this year.
Level 8 applications
The data on this year’s trends show that level 8 agricultural courses were mentioned 1,834 times on CAO forms this year in comparison to 1,903 in 2022.
Furthermore, only 408 of these mentions were first preferences, meaning that 77% of those who included these courses on their list placed it after at least one other option.
Meanwhile, 1,852 people mentioned a level 8 veterinary course on their form with 865 people citing it as their first choice. In 2022 for comparison, 1,903 people mentioned these courses, although only 345 of those were first preferences.
Veterinary medicine courses were also less popular this year, with 747 mentions, down 192 from 939 last spring.
Courses within the field known as ‘Interdisciplinary programmes and qualifications involving agriculture, forestry and veterinary‘ (IPAFV) were mentioned on CAO forms 2,074 times in 2022, however this has also dropped to 1,997 this year.
Level 6/7 courses
A similar pattern can be seen across the level 6 and level 7 courses which relate to the above disciplines, where all but one saw a fall in the number of mentions.
Level 6 and level 7 IPAFV courses were mentioned 278 times on CAO forms this year, which marks an increase of 133 on last year.
90 of these were first-preference mentions, meaning 32% of applicants put these courses as their top choice.
Within the level 6 and 7 categories, there is an environmental field, which 817 people applied to study in this year – although this is a decrease on last year when 1,331 people took an interest in courses in this area.
Most popular fields of study
Courses within the field of ‘health’ got the most mentions on CAO forms this year, with 24,200 listings, 12,087 of which were first preferences.
Business and administration courses followed this with 52,568 mentions, followed by arts courses, which had 44,475 people listed.
Overall, more females applied to higher education through the CAO this year, with 43,279 completing a form. In comparison, 34,746 males applied through the system, a difference of just over 8,500.