Mr. Paul Johnston:

I thank the members of the committee for the opportunity to have this dialogue this morning. We welcome this opportunity to discuss how IUA universities ensure that university courses are relevant, up to date, responsive to the needs of learners, employers and society, and equip Ireland's workforce with the 21st century skills required to succeed. Our seven universities each maintain a comprehensive, externally validated system for the design, approval, delivery, review and enhancement of their academic programmes. These systems align with European standards and are subject to oversight by Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI.

New programmes go through both internal validation to ensure strategic alignment, evidence of demand, viability, learning outcomes and resource requirements, as well as an external expert review assessing academic coherence, alignment with the national framework of qualifications, NFQ, assessment strategies and the appropriateness of the proposed curriculum. The universities' portfolios respond to societal needs, support student success and uphold high academic standards. They are overseen by rigorous internal governance structures under the authority of each university's academic council.

The student experience and student outcomes are central to programme enhancement and institutional decision-making. The universities embed student partnership across their quality assurance systems through a range of methods, including student representation on programme boards, academic council and quality review committees; systematic analysis of student and graduate feedback, including StudentSurvey.ie and the graduate outcomes survey; and annual monitoring of progression, retention and other student success metrics.

Each university ensures that course content remains current, relevant and responsive to national and global developments through a range of measures, including monitoring of disciplinary developments, labour market trends and national skills priorities; structured engagement with employers, other industry partners and professional bodies, ensuring programmes reflect contemporary practice and emerging needs; integration of research-informed teaching, ensuring that students benefit from the latest scholarship and innovation; regular updating of modules and assessments, informed by student feedback, external examiner feedback and professional accreditation requirements.

With the arrival of GenAI, the universities have put in place internal supports to help their staff understand how AI works, to illustrate how GenAI can be used in teaching, learning, assessment and research, including how it is already being used within Irish universities, as well as to identify risks and challenges. AI technologies offer potential benefits for teaching and learning but AI also presents risks if implemented without due consideration to areas such as academic integrity, privacy and equity of access. Universities are seeking to ensure that students can use AI to enhance their learning and develop cutting edge skills, while ensuring ethics, equity and academic integrity are safeguarded.

In terms of engagement with employers and other external stakeholders, workplace readiness, future skills and experiential learning are core aspects of university programmes. Most students have access to placement or study abroad opportunities through their programmes. For example, at UCC approximately 4,000 students benefit from placements or work-integrated learning opportunities every year. The interaction between the university and local and national employers is multifaceted. There are multiple touch points, such as formal stakeholder meetings; industry advisory boards; workshops, placements and internships; employer-supervised or engaged project work; alumni networks; guest lectures and careers fairs. External stakeholders contribute to programme design, review, accreditation and work-integrated learning. This ensures Irish university graduates are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attributes required in a rapidly evolving society.

On transversal skills, universities are working to ensure students develop the necessary skills to thrive in a rapidly changing world. Such skills, often known as "transversal" are uniquely human and are central to the educational experience of Irish university students in the 21st century.

They include skills such as critical thinking, ethical decision-making, communication, teamwork, entrepreneurship, leadership and digital literacy project management. I know from my experience in my new job of talking to business leaders that these skills are highly valued by employers, both Irish and multinational, who are all seeking to future-proof their businesses by hiring and growing the number of people able to successfully navigate change and complexity. The universities thus seek to embed, assess and evidence these skills across our programmes so that students are formally assessed on them. For example, the DCU Futures programme, with its transversal skills competence framework and MySkills platform, allows students to log on and generate a personalised skills report based on the formal assessment of their transversal skills in their programme of study.

Flexible upskilling and reskilling are increasingly important parts of our offer. Micro-credentials are small, accredited courses designed to meet the demands of learners, enterprise and organisations. A suite of 600 courses has been created by universities in close consultation with enterprise, offering a flexible, bite-sized and accessible ways of upskilling and reskilling, all accessible through a user-friendly portal, microcreds.ie. These are research-led and quality assured, and learners may choose to undertake an individual micro-credential course or continue to study, advancing their skills and knowledge over time. Over the past three years 20,000 learners employed in SMEs and large multinationals around the country and in the public service have signed up for micro-credential courses.

DCU Futures and micro-credential courses are examples of the universities' work to enhance teaching, learning and student success across the sector, with support from the human capital initiative, HCI. This shows what can be achieved when right-sized funding supports the sector. Thus, the continued underfunding of higher education limits opportunities for maximising the potential to innovate in a systemic way. The Higher Education Authority, HEA, review of the university funding model and the annual budget cycles are opportunities to ensure that Irish higher education is adequately funded to ensure the future skills needs of the country. We repeat our welcome for the progress made in addressing the core funding gap and we stress the importance of closing the gap as quickly as possible to build a secure bridge to the future.