Higher Education Authority an t�dar�s um Ard-Oideachas HEA

Routes to Higher Education

For many, the Leaving Certificate examination at the end of secondary school is the route of entry into higher education, but there are a number of other routes into a course of your choice.

Further Education
An increasingly popular route of entry to higher education in Ireland is through further education. Although in many cases this qualification leads to a job, it can also lead to further study. Entry to higher education from further education is generally via Level 5 or Level 6 on the National Framework of Qualifications. Links between further and higher education colleges and courses are established and increasing in number every year (see www.fetac.ie/learners). You should enquire about links and routes of progression in your local further education college or talk to your school or local adult education guidance counsellor.

At present, students completing the Leaving Certificate Applied programme who are under 23 years of age cannot, in general, progress directly to higher education. There is a route of access however, via further education. 

Other Learning and Experience
An educational qualification is not always required for entry to higher education. Learning or experience which you do not have as a formal qualification could go towards gaining you a place on a college course. Examples of learning which may be taken into account include work-based learning, 'life' work in the home, and voluntary or community participation. When this kind of experience is taken into account by colleges in assessing an application for a place on a course, it is known as Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). If you think an assessment of your prior learning and/or experience would give you the foundation required to complete a college course, check before you apply whether the courses in which you are interested include RPL in the entry criteria.

Apprenticeships
If you have completed an apprenticeship and have been awarded a FETAC Advanced Certificate (Craft), you can use this to enable entry to a range of courses in the Institutes of Technology at Levels 6, 7 and 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications. FETAC have produced a guide on entry via this route.