Students collect their Leaving Cert results today and the Central Applications Office will issue the round one offers on Friday this week. Expect them in the post on Monday or Tuesday next week. On Monday the round one cut-off points will be published. The Irish Times will publish a complete listing of the points in a special College Places supplement.

Each year, the points vary depending on demand for the various courses. Essentially, the applicants themselves set the cut-off levels. The number and quality of applicants - as measured by the points - and the number of available places determine the cut-off points for each course.

Points are not a reflection of the quality of the course. They simply reflect student demand and college supply of places. There are some excellent courses, offering good career prospects, with surprisingly low points requirements.

Last year's points are only a rough guide to what may happen this year but there are a number of courses with limited places which consistently attract high-points applicants. Last year, the 10 courses with the highest points requirement (520 and over) were actuarial/ finance, veterinary, physiotherapy and medicine in UCD, medicine, law/French, pharmacy in TCD, radiography in UCD, theoretical physics in TCD and medicine in UCC. Unfortunately, the points required for these and the other perennially high-points courses are unlikely to drop.

On the plus side, points fell for many certificate and diploma courses and 27 courses took all qualified applicants. Most of these courses were in Regional Technical Colleges, so applicants would have needed only five passes in the Leaving Cert to secure a place. Many students are so set upon securing a degree place straight away that they forget that certificates and diplomas can lead to degrees.

This year, there are more students sitting the Leaving Cert. The Central Applications Office received 62,581 applications in total, an increase of 3,379 on last year. The Department of Education estimates that 33,750 third-level places will be available this year, 250 more than last year. This figure is provisional and may be something of an underestimate.

In response to shortages in the labour market, about 1,000 additional degree places and 750 technician places on computing courses were promised by the Government earlier this year. It's doubtful whether all of these places will come on stream in time but TCD and UCG have both advertised new computing degree courses during the summer - outside the CAO system. UL has increased its number of computing places by 80 (these will be allocated via the CAO) and other colleges are also striving to increase their intake as soon as possible.

Another factor to be taken into account is the 3,000 or so students who usually go to Britain and Northern Ireland for third-level education. There has been some speculation that the proposed introduction of fees for UK third-level colleges will have a knock-on effect, pushing points up here this year.

Under the terms of the recently published Dearing report, it is proposed that new students entering UK colleges in October 1998 will have to pay fees of up to £1,000 a year. Irish students going to the UK this year will not have to pay fees for the duration of their course. So, any Irish student who gets a place this year is looking at his or her last chance for free education there. These students will probably go ahead and start their education. So, it's likely to be next year before it affects our points system.

However, the British clearing process, which allocates vacant places, may become very competitive this year. The London Independent recently quoted the chief executive of UCAS, Britain's central applications body, as saying that an additional 80,000 new applicants may apply for college places through clearing, which operates in August and September. However, a "gap year" amnesty has been proposed so students deferring places already offered will still enjoy free fees next year.