Dr. Graham Love:

I am joined by the chairman of the HEA, Mr. Michael Horgan, and my colleagues, Ms Sheena Duffy and Mr. Neil McDermott from the system funding and governance sections and Mr. Stewart Roche, our management accountant.

The HEA's accounts for 2017 were presented recently to the committee. They were certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General at the end of June. I am pleased to note that once again they have been certified, with no issues arising.

In 2017 the HEA allocated over €1 billion in funding to the higher education sector. The funding covers the traditional core grant to institutions but also targeted initiatives such as Springboard which provides free places on courses for the unemployed and people returning to education and the Irish Research Council that acts as the key national funder of basic research across all disciplines. This allocation of funding is a significant responsibility for the HEA but one that it performs effectively.

I would like to update the committee on other developments since we last appeared before it in May. In May I briefed it on the status of the report arising from the independent review of the spin-out and sale of companies from Telecommunications Software and Systems Group, TSSG, at Waterford Institute of Technology and the reasons it had not been published. I assure the committee that the HEA and the Department of Education and Skills are working together to progress the matter as soon as possible and I am happy to brief it in further detail today.

In November 2017 the HEA published Dr. Richard Thorn’s report on the University of Limerick. The report made 36 findings and ten recommendations to be implemented by the university. The HEA continues its monitoring of the university's implementation of the recommendations arising from the report. Eight of the ten recommendations have been implemented and the remaining two are on course for completion by the end of the year.

At the meeting in May I also briefed the committee on the HEA's rolling governance reviews. Our first such review dealt with procurement and our second, intellectual property policies. This year's rolling review will focus on employee remuneration and other benefits. Like previous reviews, the rolling review is based on a sample range of universities, institutes of technology and other colleges. The institutions to be examined as part of the review have been notified and fieldwork will commence shortly.

Procurement, rightly, remains an area of focus for the committee. Our first rolling review in 2016 focused on procurement and led in part to the HEA's annual higher education procurement summit. This year's summit, held in April, saw the launch of a corporate procurement plan template to help higher education institutions to better plan their procurement requirements and ensure better compliance with national procurement guidelines. The plan has generated a lot of interest and there is a commitment by institutions to adopt the templates and complete the work to ensure and improve compliance in this area.

Earlier this year the Comptroller and Auditor General published his annual report on public sector financial reporting. I am pleased to note that there continues to be improvement in the timeliness of the production of financial statements for higher education institutions, particularly universities.

This year has seen not only the passing of the technological universities legislation but also our first technological university designation. In July the Government announced that the application for such status from the TU4Dublin consortium would be granted and it is on course to officially become a university next January. Other technological university consortia continue to make progress with their respective applications.

Next week the HEA will commence its annual round of strategic dialogue meetings with higher education institutions. At the meetings institutions will receive feedback from the HEA and a panel of external advisers on their mission-based performance compacts. The compacts set out each institution’s strategic priorities and contribution to overall system objectives.

As I finish up my role as chief executive, I acknowledge the work of HEA staff and their contribution in supporting and overseeing the development and growth of the higher education sector. I wish my successor, Mr. Paul O’Toole, the very best in taking up the role of interim chief executive. I am confident that he will bring a valuable insight and experience from his time in SOLAS.

My colleagues and I will be happy to answer queries from the committee.