Students under the age of 23 with QQI awards must apply through CAO. Information on CAO and how to submit an application, is available from the CAO website.

CAO Minimum Entry Requirements

For entry to all courses, applicants must hold a full award at QQI level 5 or 6. A Component Certificate is not sufficient.

Applicants presenting full QQI Level 5/6 awards will not be required to meet minimum entry requirements based on Leaving Certificate results. The QQI award is accepted in its own right.

Due to high demand for places on NC010 BA (Honours) Psychology, a limited number of places are reserved for QQI applicants. The number of reserved places will be dependent on supply. Places will be offered in order of merit ranking based upon QQI results. Please note that should a number of applicants receive the same score, random selection will apply. CAO offers for reserved places will be issued in Round 0.

For all other programmes, QQI scores are included in the order of merit list of all applicants presenting school leaving examinations. Applicants must meet the minimum CAO points (alongside all other entry requirements) to receive a CAO offer. Initial offers for all programmes (with the exception of NC010), will be issued in Round 1.

* Applicants for NC025 and NC005 must hold a distinction in one of the following modules: B20029 or C20139 or C20174 or C20175 or N33029 or 4N2138 or 5N0554 or 5N0556 or 5N16654 or 5N1833 or 5N18396 or 5N2066 or 6N3395 (or H5 in LC maths or NCI Maths Qualifying Exam)

Please click here for information on the scoring system employed for QQI awards. The Careers Portal website features an easy to use calculator which can be used to calculate your CAO score.

Mature applicants (those 23 years of age on or before the 1st of January) can apply directly to the college. Applications will be accepted up until 31st July. For further information contact admissions@ncirl.ie.

Mature applicants should not apply through CAO.

Students who hold an appropriate level 6 QQI award may be eligible for advanced entry to year two of a Level 8 Honours programme.

NCI has advanced standing agreements with a number of Colleges of Further Education, allowing students from these colleges to progress to a range of Business and Computing degrees. For further information about these links, please contact the Admissions Office at admissions@ncirl.ie or on 1800 221 721.

If you are a current QQI student and your college does not have an advanced entry agreement with NCI, you may still be eligible for advanced entry.

Applicants who hold a full award in a Business Level 6 course may be eligible for advanced entry to some School of Business programmes provided they have completed and passed modules in specific subject areas. 

Advanced entry applicants to the BA (Hons) in Business, BA (Hons) in Human Resource Management and the BA (Hons) in Marketing Practice must have completed standalone modules in each of the following areas: Business Management, Human Resource Management, Accounting/Finance, Economics and Marketing. 

The following minor awards are examples of the standalone modules accepted:

Business Management: 5N610 or 6N4106 or 6N4310 or 6N4105

Human Resource Management: 5N3586 or 6N3750

Accounting/Finance: 5N1348 or 6N20867 or D6N20929 or 6N20931 or 6N3911 or 6N3911 or 6N4165 or 6N4166

Economics: 5N1350 or 6N4091

Marketing: 5M2069 or 6N4370 or 6N4188 or 5N1400 or 6N3613 or 5N1364 or 6N3613

If you have studied a standalone module in one of the above areas but it is not included in the above listing, please email admissions@ncirl.ie and we will advise if the module you did complete can be accepted.

If you have completed a Level 6 Award in Computing, please contact admissions@ncirl.ie and we will advise if you are eligible for advanced entry.