Educational success should not be determined only by the Leaving Cert and CAO points, according to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
The future for education is in catering for people with "multiple intelligences" and of all ages, he said yesterday as he prepared to open a new €100 million campus for the National College of Ireland at the IFSC in Dublin.
Mr Ahern praised the concept of the college, which is to welcome people from all social backgrounds, no matter what their level of previous academic achievement.
The campus represented "a unique educational partnership between the business community, local people and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority", he said.
"The students who are studying here can be proud of the fact that they are now studying in one of the most advanced, learner-friendly environments in the country."
The college president, Dr Joyce O'Connor, said the new campus was the culmination of a vision of "accessible, lifelong education at a time and place that suits the learner", an idea she conceived in 1990.
"CAO points are no indication of how well you will do in university or in your career," she said. "The focus on points was set up due to a supply and demand problem, not to measure intelligence. The key skill is not the ability to remember and regurgitate, the key skill is the ability to learn, to analyse and problem-solve."
The youngest student at the NCI is aged 17 and the oldest is 77. Eighty-five per cent of students are part-time.
Most students were highly motivated men and women in their 20s and 30s who missed out on university, "sometimes because they simply weren't good at taking exams. These people with 'different intelligences' thrive and blossom when they are nurtured," Dr O'Connor said.
She would like to see the NCI model being extended to secondary schooling, which she believed is too much focused on exam results.
The college was built with funding from the Government and the private sector, many of whom were represented at the launch. Among them was Mr Bill Cullen, managing director of Renault Ireland and an author.
He left school at the age of 13 and said he owed his education to his local public library. "Local people will be able to use the new Norma Smurfit library, something that made all the difference for me," he said.
Ms Smurfit, who is fund-raising for the project, said a sculpture which would almost rival the Spire in height should be in place by spring 2004. To be called the "beacon of learning", it was designed by Cork sculptor Vivien Roche.
Among the facilities is a high-rise student residence block in which all first-year full-time students will have guaranteed accommodation.
Surrounded by trendy bars and coffee shops, the student residence is modelled on the US system, where first-years, research has shown, do better if living on campus.
There is also a gym and "wellness" centre; an early learning centre with creche; computer labs; studio classrooms and a digital knowledge centre with community learning hub.
Dr O'Connor said all lectures were interactive to encourage different "learning styles".