Entry requirements for most business courses are down on last year, although business, economic and social studies at Trinity College managed to buck the trend. But course directors say that declining demand for college places, caused by a dramatic drop in the number of school leavers, has taken a far greater toll in science and arts.

Just as the points race is a bad judge of a student's overall ability, it is also a poor yardstick of the real level of demand for college places.

For example, students needed "ve fewer points for a place on UCD's commerce degree this year, even though demand was up by 6%. This is because the published points are only a baseline requirement that tell us nothing about the sparkling range of results achieved by those who made the grade.

The enduring attraction of business is that students can bank on making good money as soon as they leave college, while many other graduates are still struggling to carve out a career.

"Students are very clued in about money and, if they pick business, they know they'll be earning decent money when they graduate in four years' time, " says Gerard McHugh, head of the school of business at Trinity College. "There's a lot of buoyancy in the employment market for business graduates, with trainee accountants starting off on 25,000, fund accountants in the IFSC earning 26,000- 30,000 and the big merchant banks in London recruiting graduates on salaries of £50,000-£60,000 a year, " McHugh said. "It makes business studies very attractive for somebody leaving school at 18 because they know they'll have a nice car, and maybe even the deposit for an apartment, by their early 20s. You don't get that with science or arts."

Despite all the new opportunities of recent years, business studies remain the passport for a career in accountancy. Of the 1,250 people who signed up to train as chartered accountants last year, only 165 had taken something other than a business-related course at college.

Chinese is the next big thing at UCD and some of this year's intake of commerce students will spend the next four years getting to grips with the languages and culture of Asia's emerging powerhouse, including stints at partner universities in Beijing and Shanghai.

Trinity has tried something similar, according to McHugh, but had to abandon the course because students found it too taxing to get to grips with Chinese on top of all of their other course work.

Third-year students at UCC will break new ground in April when they become the "rst commerce students in the college to undertake work experience. Assistant dean Ed Shinnick said the faculty has hired a full-time placement of"cer to ensure they get worthwhile experience. "Business has to be done, as well as studied, to be properly understood, " he says. "Our transferable skills programme is all about getting your hands dirty."