IT'S a strange thing, but the Minister for Education has taken to wearing a very dark shade of nail varnish lately. When the Dail Select Committee met recently to consider the Universities Bill, Niamh Bhreathnach's nails exerted a sort of morbid fascination.

As the tone of the debate grew increasingly fractious, centring as it did on institutional status and the redesignation of Waterford RTC as an Institute of Technology, the Minister's nails twisted and turned in a physical expression of her vexation.

"It's not about what's in a name, she wailed in frustration at one point. But that was precisely what it was about a name and the status that name brings with it.

The anger and frustration expressed by the students and staff of Cork RTC at the failure to give the college its long sought redesignation - while extending that redesignation to Waterford - has certainly surprised the Minister and her aides. In fact, it surprised even the staff of Cork RTC themselves. As one staff member put it: "There has been a whiff of Paris 1968 around the place for the past week."

Cork is the largest of the RTCs, with a strong basis not only in technological studies but also in the humanities. It has mounted a long fought campaign for Institute of Technology status, particularly since the amalgamation of the Cork School of Music and the Crawford College of Art and Design with Cork RTC in 1993, and it has consistently refused to be diverted from its ultimate goal.

The upgrading of Waterford in isolation was seen in Cork as a deliberate snub to Cork.

Rather than announcing the mechanisms for achieving Institute of Technology status and then inviting colleges to submit for review, the Minister upgraded one college and then - under pressure - set about establishing a mechanism whereby other colleges could seek similar status.

By the end of the week following the announcement, Breathnach was intensely frustrated with the response of Cork RTC, which had largely overshadowed her bequest to Waterford. Cork RTC argued that her decision to upgrade Waterford alone was based on a misinterpretation of a key HEA report, which did not include any examination of Cork RTC and its surrounding region.

While a strong business and industrial lobby in Waterford had sought university status for the city's RTC for some time, this was rejected by the report of the Technical Working Group of the HEA Steering Committee on the Future of Higher Education. The Group recommended the Institute of Technology designation instead and it is this recommendation which the Minister has chosen to endorse with her decision to upgrade Waterford RTC.

The Working Group's report, sometimes known as the Sexton Report, noted that there was a strong case for the provision of an extended range of degree facilities in the south east, since a serious shortfall of degree places existed in the region. The report found that the degree admission rate for the southeast was 18.5 per cent below the national average.

The result was that good quality students left the area to study elsewhere, depriving business and industry of the benefits of good quality graduates living in the area. It also meant that high tech industry tended to base itself elsewhere: the IDA had found that such industries preferred to be based in university cities with a ready supply of graduates and potential for joint research.

The HEA report also addressed larger issues facing the RTC sector in general. It recommended that the RTCs should have their titles altered to Regional Institutes of Technology, giving their qualifications an extra cachet without altering their structures or status.

THE current RTC title is problematical for the colleges. "I think we've all said that our title for the colleges - technical colleges - in no way represents our range and level of courses and the level of interaction with industry, other institutions and Europe," says Dr David Fenton, director of Athlone RTC. "We are all experiencing difficulties in interaction with universities and other third level institutions in Europe. Their concept of a technical college is far lower than what we are in fact doing."

When the Minister approached the RTCs last year on the subject of renaming, most of the RTCs favoured the establishment of a national Irish technological university which would monitor standards, ensure quality and make awards for the RTCs - or the `university institutes' as the RTC directors proposed the RTCs be called.

In effect, the recently published TEASTAS report goes some way towards addressing the first of the RTC proposals - it recommends the establishment of a single awards body to act on behalf of the RTCs. Interestingly, Cork RTC was the only RTC not to support this joint proposal. Cork had long campaigned to be redesignated as the Cork Institute of Technology and appeared reluctant to be side tracked into a more general proposal to redesignate all the RTCs.

THE redesignation of Waterford has now brought forth demands for similar consideration from other RTCs, demands which threaten to fragment the entire RTC sector. While the anger of the other RTCs - and Cork in particular - was understandable, the spectacle of a number of them immediately throwing their hats in the ring and threatening demonstrations is an unedifying one. It is difficult to shake off the impression that, in this case at least, it was every RTC for itself.

Nobody is underestimating the anger in Cork but there are risks in changing the status of any of the RTCs. Redesignation of certain institutions risks the creation of a two tier system within the RTC sector, with the inevitable result that those RTCs which have not received the new status would be regarded as inferior.

The Minister's decision to set up an expert group to advise on progress from RTC to Institute of Technology status may go some way towards defusing the current situation. It is intended that this group will publish guidelines under which other RTCs could apply for Institute of Technology status.

"We have no fears in relation to that," says Brendan Goggin, registrar of Cork RTC. "Whatever criteria are established, if Waterford RTC can meet them then Cork, the largest and most diverse of the RTCs, can meet them."

BREATHNACH is now anxious to let the situation settle and it has been indicated to the most vociferous RTCs that, for the present, it would be better if every one took time to calm down and await the establishment of the expert group. Cork is willing to put its campaign on hold but it remains concerned about the timescale involved in the Minister's proposal.

Meanwhile SIPTU members in the college have voted in favour of industrial action to support the college's claim and a similar vote is likely from the TUI later this week. A letter writing campaign has commenced and a major demonstration is planned for a Labour party conference in the city this Saturday.

The criteria for upgrading Waterford RTC were, in many ways, specific to the region. Goggin believes that the overall criteria should include the size of the college, its ranged and level of courses, the status of the institute in regional and national terms and among other academic institutions and the whole area of research and development and technology transfer to industry. "These are the characteristics of a well developed college that need to be dealt with," he says.

Yet the formation of the expert group addresses only one aspect of the problem. There is a very real danger that RTCs which fail to meet the guidelines for Institute of Technology designation, or which choose to remain in the RTC sector for reasons of their own, could come to be unfairly perceived as second division colleges.

"We would be very concerned at this possibility," says Dr Fenton. "Our position is that the smallest college is as important as the largest college. The smallest college may be as important to a region with a small population as a larger college and a larger infrastructure. Our success up to now has been as a network of colleges and I would be very disappointed if it developed into a two tier system. It would be disastrous for the colleges, the regions and the country."

STUDENT representatives are also concerned at the possible implications for the sector. "The perception that is going to be out there is that a number of the colleges will be perceived as secondclass," says Malcolm Byrne, education officer with the Union of Students in Ireland. "This will be a major problem and will have to be the key to any solution. At the end of the day, it's student qualifications that are at stake.