![\"\"](\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2.55444857.jpg\")
Students who missed out on college courses due to the calculated grades error have now been offered their places.<\/p>\nStudents who missed out on college courses due to the calculated grades error have now been offered their places.<\/p>\n
Higher education minister Simon Harris said the offers had gone out on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
There were 424 students who were identified by the CAO to have missed out on their desired college course due to wrongly being awarded a lower grade.<\/p>\n
They have now being offered a place on their chosen course for the current academic year.<\/p>\n
Minster Harris said: \u201cI promised last week to move mountains to make sure that any student who required an additional place as a result of the calculated grades would get that place and would get that place in this academic year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m delighted to report to the committee that that\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat every single student that had an error in their calculated grades detected by the CAO has now been offered a place this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Harris again apologized for the errors, which affected an initial 6,500 Leaving Cert students, 6,100 of whom have since been awarded higher marks.<\/p>\n
The CAO identified that 424 of those students required new offers.<\/p>\n
Mr. Harris said he was conscious that the class of 2020 had been through a \u201chorrifically difficult year\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr. Harris made the comments at the committee on higher education on Thursday, and insisted that Government would learn from its mistakes.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe idea that we wouldn\u2019t stop and review and learn in relation to this year\u2019s calculated grades would seem to be a bit bizarre to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m quite sure there will be an openness in Government that any lessons that need to be learned are learned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was done in real time, in crisis mode. I think people worked in good faith. But you\u2019d be very stupid not to stop and review it and see what went well, what didn\u2019t go well, what needs to go better.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to try and make sure that we don\u2019t create a bubble effect next year. I need to try and make sure I maximize the number of places available for the class of 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in senator Rose Conway-Walsh raised the fact hat some students had been squeezed out of places due to others wrongly being awarded higher marks.<\/p>\n
But Mr. Harris said these students would not have their results downgraded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a long standing precedent in this country, decades old, that nobody gets downgraded.<\/p>\n
\u201cShort of re-running the entire process, which I don\u2019t think anyone would advocate for, there is no way of determining the impact of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government, in a pandemic, thought that this was the fairest way of doing things. Is it perfect, no?<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this was done in crisis mode, in a pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m encouraged that more students than ever before have college places, have their first choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minister Harris also sought to reassure college students who are undertaking their first year of college off campus through online learning.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThis is not forever. We\u2019re taking this semester by semester. We\u2019re constantly looking for more opportunities to do things on site.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t locked the doors of the universities like we did in March.\u201d<\/p>\n