Dr. Bryan Maguire:

We are lucky in Ireland that our private higher education system is already subject to academic quality assurance through the awarding function of QQI awards, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council and the National Council for Educational Awards before that. We have quite a robust floor on our academic standards across the board. That is the key role of QQI and this was strengthened in the legislation I referred to that was passed last year, whereby the learner protection fund, for example, is available where providers go out of business. On the other hand, these are private institutions that are not in receipt of public funds, except in certain limited cases such as some human capital initiatives, such as Springboard and the like. The flexibility of these providers to offer extra places has been very helpful in terms of the responsiveness of the system to short-term needs in particular courses of study.

On the question of general quotas and so on, that would also be available as a tool for the Higher Education Authority in setting the strategic direction of the system. If the institutions are funded by the HEA, it will get to say what will be funded; if, on the other hand, they remain privately funded, they will offer programmes in demand by students as they will be paying fees directly.