Engineers Ireland has reiterated its call for the introduction of bonus Central Application Office (CAO) points for higher-level maths, in the wake of Ireland’s Leaving Cert results.

Denis McGrath, Chartered Engineer and Engineers Ireland’s Registrar, said: “Maths is an essential course requirement for engineering and engineers will play a key role in the development of Ireland’s knowledge economy. It is obvious that incentives need to be introduced in the immediate term to encourage more students to take higher level maths.”

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“Engineers Ireland is looking forward to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment’s report on the Leaving Certificate maths syllabus that will be published in the Autumn to address the longer term issues related to performance and interest in maths. We will welcome any improvements that will encourage young students to study maths and create awareness of the core relationship between the subject and real life and in turn careers in engineering.”

Engineers Ireland and the Irish Academy of Engineers recent report ‘Engineering A Knowledge Island 2020’, highlighted that if Ireland is to become a top five global economy by 2020, a year on year increase of 7% in the number of engineering graduates needs to happen.

Engineers Ireland hope to ensure this increase through its Science, Engineering and Technology (STEPS) programme, which will actively encourage young people to consider a career in engineering through 1,500 events targeting over 65,000 students nationwide.

(LC/SP)