My daughter is interested in becoming a therapist but CAO entry points are high. I heard recently about places on programmes in Northern Ireland, funded by the Irish Government. Are these still available – and what kind of points requirements are there?
Yes, there are 10 health therapy courses as well as three nursing programmes offered at undergraduate level at Ulster University where the State is funding places for students from the Republic.
The courses include dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry, radiotherapy and oncology, speech and language therapy, paramedic science, diagnostic radiography and imaging, general nursing and mental health nursing.
All programmes are three years and based on the Derry campus, apart from dietetics, which is a four-year programme and offered at the Coleraine campus.
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My daughter wants to be a therapist but CAO points are high. Are there other options?
The programmes are only open to applicants who are Irish or UK citizens via the UCAS applications system.
The therapy courses – known as allied health programmes – require 5xH3 grades from Leaving Cert students.
Physiotherapy requires a H3 grade in either biology, physics or chemistry. Radiography and radiotherapy, respectively, require a H3 grade in physics.
Both nursing and paramedic science require 112 UCAS points, which can be made up from both higher and ordinary grades. (The UCAS website shows what each Leaving Cert grade is worth in UCAS tariff points.)
Candidates for the allied health programmes must also sit the newly introduced MSAT Ulster test.
Nursing applicants are invited to undertake an online video submission (or online interview), which they must complete to be made an offer for the programme.
Applicants to paramedic science are invited for an in-person interview that takes place on-campus.
It is too late for 2025 entry, but the UCAS deadline for 2026 applications to the above courses will be January 29th, 2026.
Incidentally, students enrolled on the adult nursing and mental health nursing programmes also receive a non-means tested bursary of €6,200 for each year of study.
Graduates from the above programmes may register with Coru or the Nursing & Midwifery Board Ireland (NMBI) upon graduation. For paramedic science, however, they are required to undertake a period of employment with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service before being able to register and practice as a paramedic in the Republic.
