THERE WERE JUST over 78,000 applications received by the Central Applications Office (CAO) for third-level courses by the 1 March closing date.

This is a decrease of 1,164 applicants compared to 2021.

In total, there were 78,012 applicants to CAO in 2021, with 6,587 coming from prospective students over 23 years old. This is down 24% on 2021.

Courses to do with the environment saw a significant jump in 2022, with a 24% increase compared to 2021, with 532 people having environment courses as their first preference and 4,510 mentions in total.

Manufacturing and processing courses also saw an increase in 2022, with a 13% increase on 2021. 267 people had a manufacturing and processing course as their first preference, with 2,498 mentions overall.

There was a significant drop in the number of applications to study midwifery however, with a 25% drop compared to 2021. There were 4,363 applications to study midwifery in 2022, compared to 5,951 in 2021.

Despite slightly lower CAO applications overall, Maynooth University saw its highest ever number of applications sent in, reporting a 3% increase.

There were a total of 8,713 applicants who sought to be considered for the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE), which is an increase of 874.

9,247 people applied for the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR), which is a decrease of 769 on 2021.

According to the CAO, final figures on HEAR and DARE applicants will not be known until 15 March.

Prospective students who are currently within the CAO process will still be able to change their choice of course from 5 May until 1 July, while late applications will be accepted from 1 May.