Trinity College Dublin will begin a new pre-university "bridging course" next year to bring into the college 20-30 students from disadvantaged areas without sufficient Leaving Cert points to enter by the standard route.
The Provost, Dr Thomas Mitchell, said this one-year course would improve students' communications, study, information technology, maths and science skills sufficiently for them to "survive and compete" at university.
He was speaking yesterday at the launch of this year's Trinity Access Programme summer school, which brings 49 fifth-year students from 10 Dublin schools into TCD for a week to see how its various departments work. A mock legal trial, art and drama workshops and making cement blocks in the engineering department will be among the activities.
Currently there are only three TCD scholarships - two in law and one in psychology - for non-standard entry students in the 1719 age group.
Trinity Access Programme director, Dr Deirdre Raftery, said one of the week's main aims was to help remove "the psychological barriers, the fear and anxiety" many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds suffer when they contemplate third-level. She said 27 students who had taken the programme were now studying at TCD.
The programme began in 1993 with a group of second-year students at second-level schools. The schools represented this year are Westland Row, Haddington Road, Inchicore, Drimnagh, Walkinstown, Tallaght, Kilbarrack, Crumlin, and James's Street.