Following a query from a Guidance Counsellor about the UCAS Tariff and the revised Leaving Certificate Points Scale, the following is a response from Professor Philip Nolan.

I raised the matter with the Department of Education and Skills, specifically the Assistant Principal responsible, Micheál Lenihan.

He has raised it with UCAS, and the update is as follows:

“ I spoke with UCAS yesterday afternoon in relation to the introduction of the revised LC Points Scale.  UCAS confirmed that they have received a copy of the new Irish Points Scale and the agreed new Tariff applying to the Points for the Leaving Cert.

They have already sent a notification of this to all of their Universities.  They are also publishing a UCAS Tariff Update next week which will highlight the revised Irish System in the Bulletin and highlight the main points about it. 

UCAS also have country specific Qualification Information Profiles (QIPs) which are updated on an annual basis.  We have completed the new QIP for Ireland detailing the revised system and arrangements in place and returned same to UCAS.  The new QIP will be available on the UCAS website from July 2016 onwards (They believe it will be closer to the end of July).  The QIPs are currently in a PDF format but they are moving this year to a Digital format which they believe will be more intuitive and interactive.

They will also be updating the Tariff Calculator on their website this Summer (end May / early June) which will then contain details of the Tariff points for people who will have received grades under both the old LC and the new LC system.”