Higher education in Ireland
Higher (or third-level) education
awards in Ireland are conferred by Dublin City University,
Dublin Institute of Technology, Higher Education and Training
Awards Council, National University of Ireland, University of
Dublin and University of Limerick. These are the degree-awarding
authorities approved by the Irish Government and can grant
awards at all academic levels. The King's Inns of Dublin has a
limited role in education specialising in the preparation of
candidates for the degree of barrister-at-law to practice as
barristers.
Some colleges are constituent or
linked colleges of universities, whilst others are designated
institutions of the Higher Education and Training Awards
Council. The latter include the Institutes of Technology,
Colleges of Education, and other independent colleges. Some
colleges have delegated authority from the Higher Education and
Training Awards Council, this allows them to confer and validate
awards in their own name.
Some institutions such as the University of Limerick and Dublin
City University have completed a process of modularizing their
courses (others are still in a transition phase), mostly using
the ECTS. The Bologna process and applied research are the
current concerns of national educational policy, additional
concerns include the structures of the National University of
Ireland and Trinity College, Dublin.
The Marks & Standards document, offered by most institutions,
can be consulted for information on the range and criteria set
down for awards, while programme specifications offer additional
information. In contrast to practice in the rest of the
education system, entry tends to be highly competitive for
school leavers; the so called "Points Race". In 2001 the
percentage of school leavers transferring to third level
exceeded 50% for the first time, as of 2005 it is in excess of
55% and expected to grow at approximately 1% per annum for the
next decade.
Under the "Free Fees Initiative" the Exchequer will pay the
tuition fees of students who meet relevant course, nationality
and residence requirements as set down under the initiative. A
"registration fee" of approximately €800, at the start of the
academic year, is payable on most courses; this fee is intended
to cover student examinations, registration and services.
All but two of the seven universities in the Republic of Ireland
offer "open" (omnibus entry) Bachelor of Arts degrees through
the CAO where the student can choose their specialisation after
their first year of study. The two universities that do not
offer "open" (omnibus entry) arts degrees, (Trinity College,
Dublin and Dublin City University) do still offer Bachelor of
Arts degrees in specific areas of study such as Drama Studies,
Journalism, Latin, History, Japanese and International
Relations. In one, (Trinity College, Dublin, the student wishing
to do an arts degree must apply to the college naming a viable
combination of two "arts" subjects, such as French and
Philosophy, and in the final year the student must choose one of
the two to focus solely on. Dublin City University's de facto
omnibus entry arts degree is offered by St. Patrick's College of
Education (a college of DCU) and is titled "BA in Humanities".
Ireland also has 0.747 of the World's top 500 Universities per
capita, which ranks the country in 8th place in the world. There
are six establishments of higher education in the Republic of
Ireland which are ranked amongst the top 500 universities
worldwide by the Times Higher Education Supplement (requires
free registration).
Ortelius level 1
The Certificate (HETAC) is a
one-year course and is generally an introductory, foundation or
skills-based qualification. It is awarded exclusively by the
Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC). The
certificate will not be awarded after June 2006.
Traditionally, the National Certificate (NCert) and National
Diploma (NDip) have been by far the most common awards at this
level and cover a wide variety of disciplines. It was announced
in July 2004 that these awards would be replaced by the Higher
Certificate and Ordinary Bachelor Degree respectively in 2005.
Ortelius level 2
The Ordinary Bachelor Degree, a
three year ab initio course, is generally only offered by the
University of Dublin or a College of Education; usually a
Bachelor in Arts or Bachelor of Education respectively.
The Honours Bachelor Degree, generally a three or four year ab
initio course, is offered in a wide variety of disciplines,
including the arts, business, engineering, law, medicine, and
science, and is offered by default in many colleges and all
universities.
Ortelius level 3
The Graduate Diploma or Higher
diploma is a taught course often requiring a research
dissertation. The course is often offered as a reorientation or
professional qualification required for entry into professions
such as teaching or other professions requiring the acquisition
of new skills after graduation.
The Master's degree is awarded as either a research or a taught
degree, or a combination of both. It is often awarded after the
completion of a Bachelor's Degree or a Graduate Diploma and
takes between one and three years. Unusually the degree is
generally awarded at honours level.
The Doctorate degree is generally offered after original
research. The most common is the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Some degrees are particularly indigenous such as the Degree of
Doctor of Celtic Studies which is offered by the National
University of Ireland.
Further Education and Training Awards Council
The Further Education and Training
Awards Council (Irish:Comhairle na nDámhachtainí Breisoideachais
agus Oiliúna) (FETAC) is the statutory awarding body for further
education in Ireland. FETAC was established on June 11, 2001
under the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999.
FETAC is the successor to the National Council for Vocational
Awards (NCVA) and also makes awards previously made by Fáilte
Ireland - National Tourism Development Authority (previously
Bord Fáilte and CERT), FÁS - Training and Employment Authority,
National Council for Educational Awards (Foundation Certificate
only) and Teagasc - Agriculture and Food Development Authority.
As well as making awards, FETAC validates, monitors and ensures
the quality of teaching programmes and determines standards.
FETAC does not deliver the award programmes itself, they are
delivered by a number of bodies in both the public and private
sector. Examples of teaching bodies in the public sector are
Bord Iascaigh Mhara, FÁS, Teagasc, Vocational Education
Committees and Institutes of Technology.
Awards granted by FETAC are in the process of being integrated
into the ten-level National Framework of Qualifications under
the supervision of the National Qualifications Authority of
Ireland. FETAC awards fall into levels 1 - 6 of the framework.
National Institute for Higher Education
A National Institute for Higher
Education (NIHE) (Irish: Foras Náisiúnta um Ard-Oideachas) was a
category of higher education institution established in the
Republic of Ireland to provide higher level technical education
above the standard of the then established Regional Technical
College system but at university level. Higher level technical
Education in the Republic of Ireland was seen to be an area that
was poorly served until the advent of these institutions.
The plan was to see degree level education mainly. The first
institution was set up in Limerick, where there had been
long-standing demand for a university, in fact a "University of
Limerick" was proposed inter alia in the late 1960s by the
Lichfield Report. The institution at Dublin was to be the
unified campus of what later became Dublin Institute of
Technology, but instead a new institution was developed similar
to Limerick.
In the 1970s it was expected that the institutions would be
recognised colleges of the National University of Ireland, in
time this status been raised to constituent college status.
Initially this did occur for a short time (1976–1977), however
the institutions had all degrees conferred by the National
Council for Educational Awards after 1977, this continued until
university status was achieved.
The institutions
were de-facto universities from the start, and were elevated to
the level of university in 1989 after the International Study
Group on Technological Education presented its
recommendations in the late
1980s
to the
Irish Government on their status. The original brief of this
report was to investigate the creation of a single National
Technological University, however the study group found that
this title would not be appropriate considering that
non-technical disciplines were offered and that one university
might limit the innovation which had become the trademark of the
two separate institutions.
Postgraduate Applications Centre
Postgraduate Applications Centre
(PAC) is an organisation that processes entry into certain
taught postgraduate courses in the Republic of Ireland. The
system is currently in an early stage of development and only
Dublin City University and certain colleges of the National
University of Ireland are affiliated as well as Dublin Insitiute
of Technology. The centre is modelled on the Central
Applications Office and is based in the same building in Galway;
as with the Central Applications Office educational institutions
set the standards necessary to enter courses with the centre
acting only as a clearing house.
The centre was founded in 1998 by the National University of
Ireland to simplify the processing of applications to the Higher
Diploma in Education which is a popular course in the
university's constituent universities, and a requirement to
enter the teaching profession in Ireland.
Commencing in 2005 Dublin City University will accept
applications for all taught postgraduate courses through the
centre, this program is in a pilot stage. Postgraduate research
programmes applications will continue to be processed by the
university.
State Examinations
Commission
The State Examinations Commission
(Irish: Coimisiúin na Scrúduithe Stáit) is the organisation that
replaced the Department of Education and Science, Examinations
Branch by order of the Minister for Education and Science in the
Republic of Ireland. The Department of Education and Science was
formerly called the Department of Education until 1997.
The commission oversees the state examinations at secondary
education level in the Republic of Ireland, its offices are
located in Athlone, County Westmeath in central Ireland. The two
examinations the commission oversees, accrediting and certifying
them, are the:
Junior Certificate
Leaving Certificate
Typically about 60,000 students present for each of these
examinations each year, generally commencing on the second
Wednesday of June. The commission holds the results of public
examinations carried out by the Intermediate Education Board for
Ireland (1879 - 1924), these include the Junior Grade, Middle
Grade and Senior Grade.
( http://en.wikipedia.org )
There are seven universities in the
Republic of Ireland and two in Northern Ireland.
Universities offer degrees at
Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate levels and undergraduate and
postgraduate diplomas over a full range of disciplines. In
addition research is undertaken in many areas and the
universities are also involved in continuing and distance
education programmes.
Teaching at undergraduate level is normally by way of a
programme of lectures supplemented by tutorials and, where
appropriate, practical demonstrations and laboratory work.
Masters degrees are usually taken by coursework, research work
or a combination of both.
Doctoral degrees are awarded on the basis of research.
Universities award their own degrees using external examiners to
ensure consistency of standards. There is also a Higher
Education Authority (HEA) which oversees the work of the
universities on behalf of the Department of Education and
Science.
The Higher Education Authority is the body responsible for
funding the universities and other third-level education
institutions, and it has an advisory role in relation to the
whole higher education sector. It is the Irish partner for the
third-level aspects of the EU-funded SOCRATES Programme, and
acts as Ireland's National Academic Recognition Information
Centre (NARIC).
The International Education Board Ireland provides information
on education opportunities in Ireland. Their website is an easy
to use entry point for finding out about education in Ireland.
The IEBI's remit is to facilitate and support the development of
Ireland as an international education centre.
An important group of organisations involved in post-secondary
education sector in Ireland are the newly-established National
Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI) along with HETAC
(Higher Education and Training Awards Council) and FETAC
(Further Education and Training Awards Council).
For those interested in seeking entry to higher education, the
most relevant body is:
Higher Education and Training Awards Council
26 Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1
Phone: + 353-1-855 6526
Fax: + 353-1- 855 4250
Source: International Education Board Ireland http://www.educationireland.ie/
