Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I have a lengthy reply from the Department of Education and Science but I will draw the Minister's attention to the concerns expressed by Deputy Quinn. I am taking the Adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Keeffe, who apologises for his inability to be here.

As Deputy Quinn is well aware, the Government has been considering the role of the NUI in the context both of the establishment of the new qualifications and quality assurance and the recommendation on dissolution contained in the McCarthy report. The qualifications and quality assurance landscape was examined with a view to simplifying the many relationships between colleges and agencies and the Government recently approved the general scheme of the legislation bringing the functions of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, the Irish Universities Quality Board, HETAC and FETAC into a new single agency. I must say that the proliferation of agencies has left me a little in the cold.

In the October 2008 budget, the Government announced that the NUI's functions would be considered in the context of the establishment of an amalgamated qualifications and quality assurance agency and there was a consultation paper issued on the issues and submissions were received. At the same time a consultative process on the future of the higher education sector has been under way. There has been ample opportunity for all interested parties to make their views known.

Since the enactment of the Universities Act 1997, the NUI has not been a federal university in any real sense. While the NUI supplies some shared services, all significant powers ordinarily associated with a university are directly assigned to the four constituent universities. They make their own awards and have their own quality assurance procedures which are externally reviewed not by the NUI but by the Irish Universities Quality Board. While the NUI senate provides a forum for discussion on most major issues the universities themselves make the decisions.

New partnerships between universities and institutions are evidence that the agenda on collaboration between higher education institutions has moved on and that the NUI is becoming less relevant. The current arrangement where a separate awarding and quality assurance framework is maintained by NUI for only five recognised colleges is not sustainable. Some of these recognised colleges are exploring alternatives themselves. The recognised colleges could enter a quality assurance and award making relationship with the new agency or with an existing university.

The dissolution of the NUI is not primarily a matter of saving money. The net savings arising from dissolution may be in the region of €1 million. Rather it is a matter of being unable to support the continuation of the NUI to carry out its remaining functions, the bulk of which will now most likely be performed by the constituent universities themselves. The Minister of Education and Science concluded that having a separate institution make awards for a small and reducing number of recognised colleges and to deliver certain shared services for some of the universities is neither strategic nor sustainable. It is in this context that the Government has decided to dissolve the National University of Ireland. There is no need to delay while the higher education strategy is being finalised.

As Deputy Quinn stated, the NUI has made an enormous contribution over the past 100 years to our cultural life and national development. The decision to dissolve the NUI was not taken lightly. The NUI brand enjoys respect and recognition domestically and internationally. The awards made by the NUI's constituent universities are entitled awards of the NUI, and will continue to be so. The Minister is open to discussing with the constituent universities an appropriate mechanism to ensure the protection of the integrity and international reputation of the NUI degree, which is the core issue raised by Deputy Quinn.

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