The first overhaul of the sector since the 1960s will examine equality of access, standards and colleges' financial accountability, writes Kathryn Holmquist.Maynooth: 2002 feeder schools
The question of re-introducing third-level fees has emerged once again with the announcement that a high-level OECD team of education experts are to reassess the higher education sector.
The first overhaul of the third-level sector since the 1960s will also look at issues of equality of access, standards and financial accountability by third-level institutions.
The group will be fully independent and impartial, the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, said.
The team, which will report next summer, will be "open-minded about all issues", said Mr Abrar Hasan, head of education with the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).
One of its top priorities will be to ensure greater rates of participation from socially disadvantaged groups, said the Minister.
Ms Jan O'Sullivan, Labour Party education spokesperson, said the initiative "must not become an excuse to defer action on tackling educational disadvantage at third-level" and that the key to the problem was inequality at primary and secondary levels.
The OECD has previously said the subsidising of higher level by Government is "questionable on both equity and efficiency grounds".
The State's policy of free third-level education is exceptional. It also spends more on this than most other OECD countries.
However, this policy has not increased access to third-level by socio-economically disadvantaged young people.
The OECD is well aware of this problem, having been the first to highlight low literacy levels in Irish education, and to stress educational disadvantage.
The group will compare the performance of Irish third-level educational bodies with those in other countries.
Its tasks, as outlined by the Minister, will be:
to examine how institutions can ensure that students reach their full potential and gain knowledge for its own sake, while at the same time meeting the demands of "the knowledge society", the local economy and "globalisation";
to suggest ways of making third-level institutions more accountable in terms of planning, development, policy, equity of access and transparency;
to devise a system of quality controls that ensure the highest standards while also making the system more learner-centred;
to advise on ways to bring Irish research and development up to the highest international standards;
to examine investment and financing, having regard to the governance, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness requirements associated with the high level of public investment in the sector, broad public policy interests and principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy;
to help make Irish universities more competitive internationally, by providing a diversified and world-class higher education system.
In describing the background to the review, Mr Dempsey outlined the significant growth, both in enrolment numbers and funding terms, that higher education has experienced over recent decades and the new challenges that the sector faces if it is to remain socially relevant.
"We need to ensure that our higher education system is both responsive to and leading change in the world around it," the Minister said.
"Economically, Ireland now faces new challenges; most fundamentally through the need to achieve a successful transition to the knowledge and innovation society that is key to our future competitiveness and prosperity," the Minister said.
The review process will be open to submissions and the team will be meeting widely with interested parties.