Bill changes the frame

If the Qualifications (Education and Training) Bill, which was published earlier this month, becomes law, it will have a major impact on higher and further education in this State.

The Bill secures our binary system of education - that is, the division between university and technological sectors - and ensures that decisions on the establishment of ITs or universities can no longer be political ones. The Bill makes provision for two types of university - existing universities and new universities, which may be set up under the terms of the Universities Act 1997.

Consumer protection and quality assurance are important elements of the legislation, which also dissolves the National Council for Educational Awards. Under the terms of the Bill, a Further Education and Training Awards Council will incorporate some of the functions of FAS, the National Tourism Certification Board, Teagasc and the National Council for Vocational Awards. The Higher Education and Training Awards Council will take over the function of the NCEA, while the National Qualifications Authority (NQA) will be established as the overall guarantor of the quality of further and higher education and training.

The NQA will also promote access, transfer and progression into and within education and training.

At the heart of the Bill, the Minister of Education and Science, Micheal Martin, says, "is the creation of a national qualifications framework which will implement best international practice in promoting quality in education, actively promote and protect the interests of students and allow individual institutions to receive recognition for their work through the delegation of certification powers". The student/learner is central to the Bill, the aim of which is to address the needs of the learning society. For the future, students will be able to work their way through the education system from PLC, certificate, diploma to degree, without having to return to start each time.

Once the framework is set up, it will be immediately clear how a FAS course relates to a PLC or to a certificate course in an IT, for example. The Bill is largely based on the work of Teastas, which was set up to advise the Minister on the creation of a qualification framework. It has, however, taken the recommendations of Teastas a good deal further. "It's necessary to make the awards fit hand and glove with each other so that people can be mobile across institutions, within institutions and not in institutions at all," comments Dick Langford, CEO of Cork City VEC and chairman of Teastas.

"Our qualifications system was based in the past on full-time learners. We need to accommodate different learners. We needs to be flexible and, above all, guarantee quality."

The Bill clearly differentiates between the existing universities and any new universities which may be set up in the future. Existing universities are required "to co-operate and give all reasonable assistance" to the NQA in carrying out its functions.

The NQA, together with the HEA, can review the implementation by the existing universities of arrangements to access, transfer and progression. New universities, however, are required to implement the access, transfer and progression procedures determined by the NQA. New universities must agree quality-assurance procedures with the NQA; the HEA, meanwhile, will act in an advisory role in relation to the quality-assurance arrangements in existing universities. According to Martin, the universities have indicated they will co-operate with the new structures. The Bill firmly locks the DIT, which merits its own separate section in the legislation, into the technological sector. The DIT's qualification-awarding status remains unchanged, but it is required to implement access, progression and transfer procedures determined by the NQA. The DIT is required "as soon as is practicable" to establish and agree quality-assurance procedures with the NQA and to undergo regular course evaluations.

The Bill also allows for a review process by which institutions, should they so wish, will be awarded delegation of authority to make their own awards. The bill also ensures that institutes of technology can no longer be established at the whim of a politician. Section 32 of the Bill amends the RTCs Act 1992 to ensure that for the future, ITs will be established as a result of independent review. The new bill presents the universities with a huge challenge. The universities now have to sit down and work out how their qualifications relate to each other's and how IT qualifications can be accommodated. Until now, the universities have made transfer decisions on an individual basis only. They will now be required to adopt a more transparent process - while ensuring that there is no drop in standards.

The cost implications are also significant: extra places will have to be created for transfer students.

The HEA welcomes the official policy to transfer funding and administrative responsibility for all institutes of technology, including the DIT, to the HEA. "We look forward to discussions with all the institutes of technology," says the HEA's chairman, Dr Don Thornhill.