KOSEN 한인과학기술자네트워크

The years 1989 and 1995 were highly significant in operational terms. The former saw the computerisation of Leaving Certificate Examination procedures and the latter the establishement of a CAO network linking all participant institutions. The year 2000 has been equally significant operationally in that it saw the first avialability of some CAO services on the Web. Applicants could view their offers of places and their latest acceptances on the CAO Website. There was also a facility for advertising vacancies and enabling interest to be expressed in them. The National Centre for Technology in Education had laid much of the groundwork for this development. For several years past, NCTE and its predecessors had operated an electronic school-based application system - latterly as part of the state-funded Scoilnet. (There were 3000 applications through the scoilnet system in 2000). The number of courses advertising vacancies increased still further in 2000. Some 37 Degree courses and 90 Diploma/Certificate courses were still on offer to qualified applicants at end-ofseason. Of these, 19 Degree and 17 Diploma/Certificate course were fee-paying. Some 1256 persons expressed interest in vacancies - 941 of these were already current-year CAO applicants and 315 were appearing for the first time. (It is both interesting and significant ot note that, of those expressing interest, a great majority did so via the CAO Website). The gradual incease in the numbers of courses with vacancies must be viewed against the backdrop of the great increase in higher education course availability in the 1990s. This increase cannot be ascribed to any decline in the numbers of acceptances; in 2000, these were greater than ever. A detailed scrutiny indicates that vacancies are distributed unevenly. As might be expected, many of them occur in institutions which are not entitled to the fees concession. Otherwise, the factors appear to be subject-area and level of potential award as well as type and geographical location of institution. Tables Two, Three, Four and Five overleaf illustrate some of the main parameters of the year 2000 admission cycle.