The Institutes of Technology have made a strong defence of their sector in a submission to the OECD group which arrives today to review the third-level sector in Ireland.
It is thought that the group's recommendations could lead to significant changes in the way the sector is structured.
The council of directors of the Institutes of Technology said the devolution of autonomy to its members would allow them to operate in an "innovative and flexible" manner in light of changes required in the higher education field.
According to council chairman, Mr Paul Hannigan, this would be in line with best international practice, and would require change to the current legislation.
"\ is the major priority for our sector," he said. "We are looking for autonomy, with accountability, to achieve the regional and national missions of each institute."
At present, individual institutes lack the freedom to make local decisions on the use of the resources made available to them, they say.
As a result, decisions on areas such as staffing levels, staff deployment and course changes cannot be made directly by the colleges.
ITs were, the submission says, responding to the needs of society by maintaining programmes that were relevant to the occupational needs and the skills required by the economy.
It was essential that they be allowed to continue this work within the new national policy framework. The submission also calls for a review of existing structures to audit quality across all areas of higher education.
The objective of such a review, it states, "should be the creation of greater structural coherence and the promotion of a culture of rigorous self-evaluation and procedural, systemic, and institutional transparency".
A balance between autonomy and accountability could only be achieved by "a searching and robust quality assurance system".
The submission also recommends the establishment of a single agency for higher education, which would be charged with the oversight of policy planning and implementation.
According to Mr Hannigan, the creation of such an agency, with autonomy for the ITs, would be the only way to achieve progress.