President of the University of Limerick, Professor Don Barry, said that more than half of the college’s existing programmes increased or maintained their entry standards in comparison with last year’s points.

UL said that it was particularly pleased that many courses in the ICT area have increased points requirements, including Computer Engineering (up 35 points), Technology-Materials and Engineering (up 40 points), Robotics (up 55 points) and Computer Aided Engineering and Design (up 125 points).

“UL has always attracted talented students into this sector, which is of vital importance to the economic development of the country,” said a spokesperson for the college.

Education programmes remain strong at UL with points going up for a number of courses including: Science Education-Biological Sciences with Physics or Chemistry from 395 to 450; Education-Modern Languages from 380 to 395 points; and for Science Education-Physics and Chemistry from 345 to 470 points.

Meanwhile, Arts and Humanities courses proved a popular choice at UL for many students with points rising for courses including Arts (Joint Honours), New Media and English, Psychology and Sociology, Languages and Cultural Studies.

According to the college authorities, the two new programmes Journalism and New Media and Law Plus “performed well” with their first cut off points at 410 and 485 respectively.

In respect of other popular courses at the college, points for the UL course in Music, Multi Media and Performance Technology have increased from 365 to 395 points.

UL’s Business courses also remain popular with points remaining at 390 for the Business Studies programme and an increase in points from 360 to 375 for the International Insurance and European Studies programme.

Cut off points for the University’s programme in Physiotherapy remain at 555 despite a drop in all other physiotherapy programmes around the country.