ICT Ireland, which represents the high-tech sector, has welcomed a 5% increase in the number of students who took higher level science related subjects in this year's Leaving Certificate. This compared with a 1.5% increase in the overall number of Leaving Cert students.
Tim McCarthy, chairman of ICT Ireland's education group, said the figures showed encouraging signs for the future skills base for the sector in Ireland.
But McCarthy, who also works for Dell Ireland, said the numbers were still relatively low in comparison with other subjects.
Just over 8,200 students have applied for engineering or technology related courses under the CAO this year. This is over 1,000 more than last year, but still well below the 2001 figure.
