Fewer undergrads are opting for agri courses

The number of undergraduate students opting for agricultural courses has dropped by 13pc since last year.

According to the CAO, the number of Level 8 undergraduate students mentioning an agricultural course as a preference this year stands at 1,595 — 239 fewer than in 2023.

Among courses students opted for, agriculture stands as the third least popular option behind ‘Interdisciplinary programmes and qualifications involving arts and humanities’, ‘Hygiene and occupational health services’ and ‘Transport services’ — all of which had fewer than 1,000 students expressing interest.

Total mentions of agriculture in student applications went down by 13pc and the number of students choosing agricultural subjects as a first preference went down by 21pc. Last year, 1,834 students applied for agri courses and 408 students chose them as a first preference.

Looking back on the last five years, there has been a steady decrease in students showing interest.

In 2019, the number of students who applied for agricultural courses stood at 1,919, which was a 14pc increase from 2018.

Veterinary courses

The number of students choosing veterinary courses as their first preference has gone up by 2pc, with 1,729 students expressing interest this year.

Head of Education for Teagasc, Ann-Marie Butler, pointed out that education programmes run by the organisation are not accounted by the CAO.

“Our courses are not on the system,” she said. “Our numbers are not reflected in the CAO system. Thankfully, our numbers for courses in further education and higher education have been stable. In fact, we’ve seen a 25pc increase in women applying for these courses.”

Teagasc offers Level 5 and Level 6 courses in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and equine. This year, they also introduced four apprenticeships that have seen great interest but are not accounted for by the CAO.

“It’s very important for students, parents and guardians to consider programmes outside of the CAO,” said Butler.

“To be fair, those courses are indicative of the direction in which students are going but I’m reminding people that there are Level 5 and Level 6 courses that could help students transition into higher level courses.”