Billy Bennett
LETTERKENNY Institute of Technology (LYIT) expect to have more than 5,000 students enrolled this year making it the largest intake since the college was opened 50 years ago.
According to Registrar Billy Bennett the growth in student numbers has been “pretty good” and has increased year on year.
“On Monday afternoon we made more than 2,500 first round offers which is similar to last year and that is 20 per cent more than pre-pandemic 2019. The points have gone up and the number of places we are offering have also gone up.
“Our students come from all over but our biggest numbers come from Donegal still. It is followed by Monaghan, Mayo and Dublin. With some of our specialist courses they come from all over the country. Nursing and some of the new science health courses attract students from very far afield. We have 50 courses with the CAO this year and the points are up on more than half of those courses,” Mr Bennett said.
He explained that the increase was more pronounced in the high demand courses such as nursing because places were limited by external quotas.
Despite increases in the numbers on some courses Mr Bennett added that there will be applicants out there who will be disappointed.
Three new courses LYIT are offering this year are Marketing with Online Technology; Architectural Technology and Electric vehicle Engineering.
Options
The Registrar highlighted the fact that available places on 22 programmes at LYIT went live yesterday at midday.
“Any student can make a new application for one of these programmes and be considered in Round 2. These may appeal to those travelling away who cannot get accommodation elsewhere. With these programmes they can stay at home.
“We have a face to face information day tomorrow (Friday) with four different sessions students can book online. These are very important for students who have questions or concerns they want to discuss,” he added.
Mr Bennett acknowledged that accommodation for students will be challenging this year.
Ten years ago LYIT measured the economic value of the college to Letterkenny at more than €100 million.
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