As if a spanking new student centre wasn't enough of a reason to brave the winds at Belfield, next year's crop of new UCD students can now hope to be awarded one of around 60 entrance scholarships worth £1,000.

The college has always offered around some scholarships but previously this was limited to twenty with recipients not knowing if they had qualified until the day they enrolled.

Under the new system the college has set points scores at which students will be guaranteed a scholarship.

"The intention is to attract the creme de la creme of students," said a college spokeswoman.

That is exactly who will be attracted by the awards, as one would expect, hopefuls will have to really have been burning the midnight oil

The lowest score, in arts is 520 points. This is 140 points above the level needed to get into the faculty last year. At the other end of the scale, would-be medics and vets will need to achieve a near impossible 600 points. An additional perk of the scheme is that all entrance scholars will be given priority in the application for places in the student residences at Belfield.