The latest list of feeder schools to third level education published this week shows that the numbers of students who sit their Leaving Certificate and go on to third level education is still very high. One school in the county, St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, had 98 students sit the Leaving Cert in 2009, and according to the report 100 per cent of them went on to third level with NUI Galway the top choice for those students, with 28 going there.
NUI Galway was the most popular third level institution across the 28 secondary schools in the county. In total 312 Mayo students entered first year third level education in NUIG, while GMIT saw 278 Mayo students start courses after their Leaving Cert. A total of 1,782 students sat their Leaving Cert exams with 20 of the 28 schools in the county showing more than 70 per cent of their exam classes going on to third level. Four schools had more than 90 per cent going on to further education and further six having more than 80 per cent progressing to third level. There is some Mayo representation in almost all the first year students in the states third level institutes, with only the Royal College of Surgeons and the National College of Ireland not having a student who stat their Leaving Cert in Mayo in 2009.
