Charting the rocky road to certification

There are fears that, if the most recent Teastas report which was published last week, is adopted, the proposed framework could create both a two-tier university sector and a fragmented technology sector. The desirability of a national certification framework is widely accepted - but how this can be put in place in a way that is acceptable to all the interested parties is quite another matter.

Teastas, which is chaired by Dick Langford, chief executive of Cork VEC, was set up by the former Minister for Education Niamh Bhreathnach to advise on the establishment of a single certification body to cover all higher, further and continuing education programmes outside the universities. These include awards made by the NCEA, the NCVA, FAS, CERT, Teagasc and other bodies.

The report recommends the establishment of three awarding bodies within a national framework. The DIT would be one of these three awarding bodies. A national institute of technology would make higher education and training awards in the RTCs, the Institutes of Technology and in other both publicly and privately funded colleges. Meanwhile, all awards for further education and training courses, including adult, continuing and community education and training, would be made by a national certification council.

According to the report, even if the DIT which since this year has the power to make its own awards is awarded university status, it should remain within the national qualifications system. The thinking behind this is that, if the DIT is allowed to leave the framework, other colleges in the technology sector may in the future want to follow suit.

Giving the DIT an awarding status separate from that of the rest of the technology sector could be viewed as an effort to keep them on board.

However, according to Dr Brendan Goldsmith, director of DIT, the report's references to the DIT need clarification. "I don't understand the references in relation to the DIT being part of TEASTAS and being a university at the same time," he says. "You are either a university and have autonomy or you are part of the national certification system. You can't be a university and remain within Teastas."

In order to keep the DIT within the national framework in the event of its becoming a university, Teastas notes "particular consideration will be required as to how that outcome may be best achieved having regard both to the Universities Act 1997, and the legislation for the establishment of the national qualification system." Goldsmith says that DIT is seeking clarification on this. "It would be a concern that if an interpretation was put on the report that the Universities Act could be amended and that the DIT would become a university that was not on a par with all the others." The DIT, though, is a special case, since it offers courses ranging from craft to postgraduate levels.

In some quarters of the RTC/IT sector, meanwhile, the fact that the universities will remain outside the national framework is regarded as a weakness. "If it's to be a national framework," says one source, "it should be truly national and include the universities." Another asks: "How can we have true transferability or true parity of esteem if the universities remain outside the net?"

Goldsmith notes: "If you want to guarantee total transferability the logical conclusion is a national curriculum with common exams. Otherwise you have to have a situation where the receiving institution acts as a gatekeeper.

There's concern, too, that instead of strengthening the technological sector, the fact that the DIT would be a separate awarding body could fragment it. "The Government says it is committed to a binary system at third level, but this recommendation seems to be a fragmentation of that view," says a source. "The DIT's application for university status makes it difficult for the Government, but if you stand back and look at the big picture, then it's clear that the national institute of technology awarding body should cover the whole technology sector."

RTC sources are also arguing that if the DIT acquires university status and becomes a separate awarding body within the framework, it should play a role in accrediting courses in private colleges. "Why should the institute of technology have to acommodate all the private colleges, the majority of which are in Dublin," this source asks.

IT'S not all doom and gloom though. "The Teastas report is a good document and a national framework can be put in place if all the agencies co-operate and accept the notion of consensus," stresses Seamus Puirseil, acting director of the NCEA. "We all have to work together and keep in mind the fact that it is the students, their parents, industry and the country that stand to benefit."

Minister Micheal Martin will have his work cut out for him. According to a spokesperson for the Department, he plans to convene a daylong meeting of all the interested parties in February. The Teastas report will form the basis of the consultation. It is his intention that legislation will follow.