HEA probes DIT uni' claims

The report of the review group on the DIT's application for establishment as a university is currently being considered by the HEA. Members of the authority gave preliminary consideration to the report on November 28th, E&L has learned.

A further examination of the report will take place at the HEA's next meeting, later this month. However, it is understood that an immediate decision is unlikely. The report throws up a number of issues that may be of concern to the authority. Under its terms of reference, the review group was asked to "detail the extent to which the institute, as presently constituted and functioning, discharges the various objects and functions of a university in accordance with sections 12 and 13 of the Universities Act 1997". In the report, the review group freely admits that it has gone beyond its terms of reference. Rather than simply make a recommendation on the basis of how the institution is currently performing, the report argues that the DIT should be awarded university status once it meets a number of conditions set out in the report.

It will be interesting to see the HEA's reaction to this.

The report stresses that "any change in status should not damage the institute's existing provision at sub-degree degree and apprenticeship levels". This could present the HEA with a dilemma.

One of the criticisms levelled against the Universities Act is that it fails to define clearly the term university. However, the fact that the Act does set down the objects and functions of a university gives weight to the argument that it is unnecessary to define the term - and that the existing seven universities represent the true nature of a university. These are academic institutions which provide mostly undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and are engaged in research.

The fact that the review group now says that the DIT, in becoming a university, must maintain its sub-degree and apprenticeship programmes could be regarded as an attempt to redefine the meaning of the word. Is this something that the HEA would welcome?

The HEA will have to consider whether it is appropriate that "alumni" with crafts qualifications and certificates could justifiably call themselves university graduates. If the authority decides in favour of the DIT, will this enhance or diminish - or indeed have any effect at all - on the reputation of Irish universities abroad?

The review group's conditions for the acquisition of university status are wideranging and include the introduction of academic structures and conditions comparable with those pertaining in existing universities, the creation of a culture of peer review and the introduction of effective monitoring standards at all levels.

It is proposed that the DIT increase its proportion of academic staff with doctorates to 35 per cent and those with master's degrees to 55 per cent. However, it is understood that in the university sector, just under three-quarters of academic staff have doctorates.

At the DIT, meanwhile, one-fifth of the academic staff, who teach at least partly on degree and higher-level courses, have PhD qualifications, while some 40 per cent have master's degrees, the report notes. The review group believes the DIT will be able to fulfil these conditions within a three- to fiveyear period and should then be awarded university status. The HEA, however, may choose to examine whether this scenario is consistent with the Universities Act. The authority may prefer that the DIT begins a new application process; in five years' time, after all, significant changes will have taken place in all third-level institutions.

The report recommends a continuation of the close collaboration between the DIT and TCD. Trinity, it states, should be represented on the DIT academic council and should continue its current representation on the institute's governing body in any future governing authority.

None of the existing universities however, has representatives of its counterparts sitting on its governing bodies. Will the HEA welcome such a change? If it accepts it, does that mean that the DIT as a university would have a lower status than the other universities?

A merger of the DIT with an existing university is not ruled out. "Our recommendations would not preclude such a development," the report notes. However, the group is opposed to a division of DIT into two separate institutions - one with university status and the other remaining part of the technological sector. "The DIT as an institution would suffer", since its current diversity is considered a major strength, the report says. Many of the conditions to which the granting of university status is tied were also highlighted by the international review team in its report on the DIT's quality assurance procedures in 1996. The report on the DIT's application for university status notes: "the review group is firmly of the view that further progress is required on those issues which have not yet been implemented . . . the DIT needs to make significant further progress in these areas" (see below, left). Whatever decision on the DIT's status is made by the Minister for Education and Science as a result of the HEA's recommendations will be historic and could have long-term implications for third-level education in the State.

The DIT is the first institution to apply for university status under the Universities Act. The review group was appointed by the HEA when Dr Noel Lindsay was chairman, but the HEA now has a new chair - Dr Don Thornhill, who as secretary at the Department of Education and Science was involved with the drafting of the relevant legislation.