Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The HEA published a set of criteria on collaboration, joint ventures and a host of other ways in which, in the spirit of the Hunt report, the institutions can combine. Instead of having a binary system of universities and institutes of technology, we should have an integrated third level system. It is up to the institutions to start to explore that new territory and a prescriptive political directive will not come from the Department or HEA.

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