THE State's 11 regional technical colleges are to be renamed to reflect their higher education activities more accurately, the Minister for Education has announced.
Ms Breathnach said the change would take effect from next autumn.
Consultations with the RTCs would take place before then on the title.
A report to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) last year recommended that the RTCs be called "regional institutes of technology".
Some colleges favour omitting the word regional. But in a discussion document drawn up by the RTCs, the proposal is to call the colleges "university institutes".
Each "university institute" would have its awards validated by an "Irish technological university", or ITU, with which it would jointly make educational awards, according to the document from the council of directors of RTCs.
The ITU would be "a new type of university, a public service institution, without its own students".
ITU graduates would also have votes for the university seats in the Seanad, the council proposes.
The HEA's remit is to be extended beyond the universities to include the RTCs, the Minister also announced. A working party has been set up to carry out this change, which will require legislation.
Addressing a conference on higher education and economic development in Dundalk RTC, Ms Breathnach said £4 million would be allocated over the next four years for research programmes on graduate training and enterprise development in the RTCs.
The proportion of degree programmes offered by the RTCs will be allowed to rise from 16 per cent to 20 per cent.
A credit accumulation and transfer system will allow students with an RTC certificate or diploma to transfer to university degree courses, she said.
Spending on the RTCs had increased by more than one half since 1992, from £86 million to £132 million, said Ms Breathnach. A new RTC in Dun Laoghaire, and the Tipperary Rural Business Development Institute, would open this autumn.
