THE DIT IS UNLIKELY to be included in the provisions of the University Bill, despite a high profile campaign by the its authorities towards that end.
The Universities Bill is likely to pass its second stage this week and the committee stage will begin next week. Not coincidentally, the DIT has stepped up its campaign to be awarded university status and to be included under the bill's provisions.
In spite of considerable support for the DIT to at least gain degree awarding status, it seems unlikely that it will be included under, the legislation. Last week, the Minister for Education, Niamh Bhreathnach, told Campus Times that "the bill as proposed for the universities is the bill we will be putting to the committee stage". While amendments are promised, they are likely to address the concerns of the universities rather than extend the bill's scope to include the DIT.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on education, Micheal Martin, who is on the committee that will consider the Universities Bill, said he was surprised that the DIT had not been considered - but added that it was probably "too late now" to include it.
Labour TD Joe Costello, also a member of the committee, says there is support for the DIT gaining degree awarding status, which would require ministerial sanction, but that the issue of university status may require a separate debate; this would examine the functions and origins of the DIT and consider whether its technological ethos would be weakened by inclusion in the mainstream university sector.
"Degree awarding status would effectively bolster the DIT," he says. "I'm not saying it would give it university status, but once you have the power to award your own degrees, you are a long way there."
The DIT currently has over 22,500 students, 10,000 full time of whom 4,500 are involved in honours degree or postgraduate courses. According to the president of the DIT, Dr Brendan Goldsmith, "university status is vital for both the long term development of our institution as well as the future of our students". He also believes that a refusal to designate the DIT as a university "can only be construed as an attempt to disadvantage DIT and all that it stands for".
The DIT was established in 1992 as an amalgamation of six colleges formerly administered by the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee. In 1995, the Minister for Education appointed an international review group to review quality assurance procedures within the DIT. The group recommended that "degree awarding powers be extended to the institute in respect of undergraduate and postgraduate courses with effect from the 1998-99 academic year".
The group also recommended that the proposed university legislation should be examined with a view to its possible extension to the DIT, and that the funding and supervision of the DIT should be transferred from the Department of Education to the Higher Education Authority.
Students generally support the extension of university status to the DIT. "The general student feedback is very, very positive," says DIT students' union president Colin Joyce, adding that it is in the interests of thousands of families that the DIT should be awarded university status at the earliest possible date.
