1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
Today you are participating in a real Higher Education comparison, not a prospectus browse.
How to read a CAO course page is useful, but it is not the lesson. The lesson is this: you pick two real courses you are genuinely considering, fill a comparison grid from your own research, set your own weights, and then decide whether you accept the winner the weights hand back.
Being handed a winner you do not want is useful. It usually means your real priorities are not the ones you typed in.
2 - Key Terms ~5 mins
Three terms you will use while you compare. Read them once, then put them to work in the grid.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Higher Education | Third-level study after senior cycle at universities, technological universities and private colleges. Your two courses sit somewhere in this landscape; name the provider type for each. | A degree at a university, a technological university, or a private college |
| CAO | The Central Applications Office system most school-leavers use to apply for HE courses in Ireland. When you check entry requirements, you are reading what a CAO offer would actually ask of you. | Listing preferred courses in order on a CAO application |
| Alternative entry | Routes beside standard points-based entry, including DARE (Disability Access Route to Education), HEAR (Higher Education Access Route), mature entry and FET progression. If points look out of reach, check whether another route into the same field still exists. | Progression from a QQI Level 5 PLC into a related degree |
3 - Compare Two Real HE Courses ~35 mins
Open the comparator. Choose two real Higher Education courses you are genuinely considering (same field or two different fields you could honestly take). Rename Course A and Course B with the real titles and providers, and note each provider type (university, technological university, or private college).
How to find a course: open the CAO course list or the college site → search the course title → read entry requirements, modules/year structure, and location. Use the same path your teacher just modelled.
Fill every cell from research you can point to. No guessing. Evidence that belongs in each row:
- Entry: points, required subjects, portfolio or interview notes from the CAO or college page; DARE/HEAR detail lives on the CAO site; FET progression on the course page or QQI/PLC pathway page
- Content: year-by-year modules and placements from the course page
- Where: campus location, commute or living-away notes
- Cost: college fees pages, SUSI grant information, rent/travel/materials you can source
- After: college graduate survey pages, HEA graduate outcomes, or Careers Portal destination notes (not prospectus photos)
Done before the bell: entry, content and where filled for both courses, weights set, result read, and accept/reject written. Cost and after are stretch if time is tight: note the source and date and finish the detail later rather than invent figures.
Create or open HE Investigation in your Strand 1.2 portfolio folder (filename: your **HE Investigation** document (Strand 1.2) or HE Investigation). Use these headings:
- Course A / Course B (titles, providers, provider types)
- Criteria and sources
- Weights
- Comparator result
- Accept or reject (and which weight you would change if you reject)
Write up under those headings. This artefact feeds later progression decisions and ALT 2 source material.
Two HE courses, your weights
4 - Think About It ~10 mins
Talk these through with the person beside you, then keep any notes you want in your HE Investigation document.
- If the comparator handed you a winner you do not want, which weight was lying about what matters to you?
- Would an alternative entry route (DARE, HEAR, FET progression, mature entry) change either course from 'not for me' to 'possible'? What would you still need to check: the CAO DARE/HEAR pages, a PLC-to-degree progression statement on the course page, or mature-entry criteria on the college admissions page?
For personal eligibility, money or access questions, the next door is your school guidance counsellor; SUSI information and Citizens Information are also solid public starting points. You do not need to research those fully now; just know where the honest check lives.
5 - What You Covered ~5 mins
In this lesson you:
- named the three Irish HE provider types (universities, technological universities, private colleges) and tagged the provider type on each course you compared
- recognised the CAO as the main school-leaver application route, and alternative entry (DARE, HEAR, mature entry, FET progression) as a live question to check next, not a deep dive
- compared two real courses on criteria you researched and weights you set yourself
- banked your HE Investigation (
your **HE Investigation** document (Strand 1.2)/.docxin Strand 1.2), including whether you accept the result the weights produced
Optional stretch: add one open-day or course-contact question to the same document that your grid still cannot answer.
Unlock the full learning experience
You're previewing this lesson. Get full access to this lesson and hundreds more — each one ready to teach, with interactive activities, printable resources and pupil progress tracking built in.
This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2025. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.