A record number of students have accepted college places after the first round of CAO offers.

By the deadline yesterday for the 1st round 37,645 applicants had accepted.

While CAO applications were down slightly this year there was a record number of offers and as of yesterday acceptances.

CAO points for many college courses saw a rise this year to their highest level for decades.

It raised some concerns about the effect the 25 bonus-points for students who passed higher level Maths.

Points for science, maths and chemistry courses all saw dramatic rises.

It was reported 56% of higher degree university courses have registered an increase in CAO points.

You might also like:

href="http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/programmes/all-programmes/lunchtime/cao-offers/">CAO offers

href="http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/news/cao-offers-out-today-as-many-courses-see-increase/">CAO offers out today as many courses see increase