Mr. Gordon Clark:

I thank the Senators and Deputies for their good wishes and support. I am looking forward to this challenge and responsibility. It is an exciting time to be involved in education and training in Ireland after having been away for several years. Given the reforms that are taking place, the QQI will engage actively, in accordance with the Act, with the other stakeholders and institutions which exist and which will emerge as part of the developments in education and training. The Deputy asked about the bodies and stakeholders to which I am referring. There is a range in the area of further education and training. SOLAS will be established and the development of the vocational education committees into education and training boards will be crucial in the reform of further education, vocational education and training. QQI will work closely with them.

In the area of higher education, the Act provides that the authority will consult with the Higher Education Authority, HEA, particularly in respect of its functions in quality assurance, access, transfer and progression, in so far as those functions relate to the institutes of higher education. The HEA's role as a statutory planning and policy development body for higher education and as the funding authority for the universities and the institutes of technology is unchanged by the Act. The new authority will be responsible for the external review of the procedures for quality assurance and access, transfer and progression which are established by HEA-funded institutions. I should stress that the authority's role in respect of quality assurance in higher education in previously established universities and providers generally will be simply to act as an external quality assurance agency which mirrors the review provisions currently set out in the Universities Act 1997. Until now the Irish Universities Quality Board has had a key role to play in quality assurance. It was established by the seven universities' governing authorities in 2002. The new authority will take over and continue the quality assurance role of the Irish Universities Quality Board in the university sector. In that respect, it will seek to build on the infrastructure that is already in place.

The other bodies that are important stakeholders for the QQI will be the institutes of technology and any future technological university. That is a very important sector for the new authority.