Last week saw the first round of CAO offers sent to Leaving Cert students, and a ‘worrying statistic’, say Agri Aware, was the drop in the number of students choosing an agricultural science course as their first preference.
Students selecting an agricultural science course as their first choice fell by 6% on 2024, while conversely the opportunities to study agricultural science have never been stronger, with options for students to study an ag-related course not only in Cork but also Galway, Dublin, and Waterford.
However, Agri Aware claim that the issues stem at primary and secondary level, as students are not exposed to Ireland’s agriculture sector and thus miss out on the importance of the sector in terms of food production, the environment, and the economic value of it to the economy.
To combat the declining trend, a newly developed programme called ‘Intro to Ag’ has been developed, that gives Transition Year students a flavour of what it like to study agricultural science at Leaving Certificate.
It also teaches students what ag career opportunities are out there, and goes nationwide this September.
‘With over 10,000 students already signed up to the programme, we are hopeful and committed that come 2028, when these students do their Leaving Cert, that we will see positive change in numbers opting to go to agricultural colleges as their first preference on their CAO application.’
