Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to bring the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014 before the House. The main purposes of the Bill are to provide for the authorisation by the Minister of the use of the description "university" by high-quality education providers for specified purposes outside the State; to amend the Student Support Act 2011 to ensure that the Minister has the power to prescribe post-leaving certificate courses for the purposes of the student grant scheme; and to amend the Education Act 1998 to provide for a refusal of access to specified information that would enable the compilation of comparative information on relative school performance in terms of their students' academic achievement.

The Universities Act 1997 provides the legal framework for the operation and establishment of universities in Ireland. As part of that framework, a legal limitation on the use of the title "university" lies in section 52 of the Act. This section provides that, with the exception of the seven universities listed in the Act and any education institution or facility established and described as a university before the end of July 1996, no person can use the word "university" to describe an educational institution or facility. The programme for Government contains a commitment to "encourage more international students to study here and to create new jobs in the sector", with the particular aim of doubling the number of students from priority and emerging markets outside the European Union. In support of this aim, the international education strategy is being implemented to put in place the necessary policies and actions to support the development of internationally oriented, globally competitive higher education institutions within Ireland. However, global competition for higher education is high. Increasing access to online information for students and their families, coupled with international marketing and recruitment campaigns, means that a growing number of educational institutions have international recognition worldwide. International recognition of the quality of both the educational institution and the qualifications on offer are a key issue in attracting students to study here in Ireland.

Greater efforts are required at national and institutional level to enhance awareness of the national brand and promote understanding of what Irish institutions offer to prospective international students and partners in simple terms that are understood worldwide.

In this context, it has become clear that the limitations prescribed by the Universities Act need to be re-examined. The use of section 52 does not serve to decide an application by an Irish institution that needs to convey the level and quality of its education abroad to an international audience.

This new legislation is required to put in place an application process for an Irish institution to use the description "university" to convey the level and quality of its education. It is, of course, paramount to Ireland's internationalisation effort that the quality and reputation of our higher education institutions remain fully intact. We are rightly proud in this country that we are leaders in Europe in terms of the quality and qualifications architecture that has been put in place by the legislation that was brought through the Houses two years ago. I will protect and enhance that reputation. The Bill ensures that this opportunity will be open only to the highest-quality providers. An application will only be permissible for a provider with the statutory authority to make its own awards to doctoral degree level and whose awards are recognised on the National Framework of Qualifications.

These strict criteria have been included to ensure that a provider authorised to use the title for the specified purposes is offering education at a level comparable to that offered by universities and that is recognised to be such under the framework. In practice, these criteria mean that a qualifying provider would be subject to external quality assurance by QQI.

A provider that applies must also have a very strong internationalisation mission as its core focus, and its ability to contribute to Ireland's strategic position on internationalisation must not be constrained by a lack of understanding of its status outside Ireland. For this reason, an applicant provider must already have 40% of its registered student body in Ireland as non-EU students.

Supporting the export activities of our leading internationally oriented institutions also contributes to the Government's job creation agenda. International evidence indicates that high-quality international education supports job creation and retention, and the international education sector is a priority sector under the Action Plan for Jobs. Employment in Ireland is created and supported through tuition fee income in education institutions and student expenditure in the economy, which boosts domestic demand. Estimates of the impact of international education on the Irish economy usually range from €800 million to €1 billion.

Section 53 of the Education Act 1998 currently gives the Minister the necessary powers to prevent the release of assessment and examination data held by bodies under the aegis of the Department of Education and Skills. Successive Governments have been of the view that access to such data would permit the creation and publication of crude league tables. Such tables would have the potential to be damaging to students, schools and the system as a whole, particularly as they would not be contextualised. I support that view.

While I support the Freedom of Information Act 2014, which significantly extends the range of public bodies that will come under the ambit of freedom of information, it is necessary for section 53 to be amended to ensure that the long-standing protection of examination and assessment data remains in place and that the issue of crude and distorting league tables does not arise. However, within the spirit of the freedom of information legislation, I am taking a focused approach to amending section 53 of the Education Act 1998. The proposed amendment provides for the Minister of Education and Skills, in consultation with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to regulate access to the examination and assessment data held by specific listed bodies. Providing for regulation in this way gives flexibility by allowing the list of specific bodies to be amended in the future by way of statutory instrument. The proposed regulations will prescribe only a limited list of public bodies, such as education and training boards, or ETBs, ETB schools, ETB education and training facilities, the State Examinations Commission, the Education Research Centre and the National Council for Special Education, all of which hold examination and assessment information in the course of carrying out their functions.

The amendment will also ensure that the prohibition applies only where it is necessary. Prescribed public bodies provided for in this amendment that currently release or share assessment and examination data with other public bodies for purposes of research will continue to be able to do so subject to ministerial approval or direction. The existing position, which permits higher education institutions such as universities and institutes of technology to release such information on the schools that their student intake attended, will be maintained.

I am amending the Student Support Act with this Bill by way of a short technical amendment clarifying the description of post-leaving certificate courses under the current Act. The provision of grants for students participating in further and higher education is provided for by way of secondary legislation through an annual scheme of grants and a set of

As it currently stands, an approved institution in the further education sector is one that receives a grant out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, pursuant to a scheme administered by the Minister, for the provision of PLC courses. Following the transfer of the administration of these courses to SOLAS after its establishment last year, I am proposing to remove, for clarity, the current reference to PLC courses as being "pursuant to a scheme administered by the Minister". This will be addressed by way of this simple technical amendment.

I will now turn to the Bill itself. It is set out in 11 sections. The principal purpose of sections 2 to 5 is to provide for the authorisation of the use of the description "university" in limited circumstances outside the State for specified purposes; for review of the authorisation by an túdarás; for the withdrawal of the authorisation by the Minister on the grounds that it is not being used for the specified purposes or that the provider no longer fulfils the qualifying criteria for application; and for an appeals board to hear appeals relating either to a Minister's decision to refuse to grant an authorisation or a decision to withdraw an authorisation.

The intent of the legislation as drafted is to strongly restrict eligibility on quality grounds and mission focus for this authorisation. Eligibility is restricted to providers that are authorised under Irish law to make their own awards, providers that have doctoral degrees recognised through the National Framework of Qualifications, and providers whose student body enrolled in Ireland consists of at least 40% non-EU citizens who are lawfully resident in the State primarily for education and training. It excludes those with delegated authority to make awards, such as the institutes of technology and potentially private higher education institutions, in the future.

The use of the title is also restricted in its geographical application and in the purposes for which it can be used. Use of the title is restricted to outside the State and for the following purposes: to market programmes of education and training provided by the authorised provider, or research services of the authorised provider; and to enter into an arrangement with any person outside the State for the purpose of participating in a collaborative project relating to the provision of programmes of education and training, or research services.

Section 6 provides for an amendment to the Universities Act 1997 and will amend section 52 to ensure that an authorised provider under this Act is exempted from the prohibition on the use of the title in the Universities Act.

Section 7 provides for a refusal of access to specified information through an amendment of section 53 of the Education Act 1998, as amended by section 5 of the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007. The Education Act 1998 is amended by the substitution of a new section 53, which confers on public bodies, within the meaning of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 prescribed in regulations made by the Minister following consultation with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, the necessary powers to refuse access to information that would enable the compilation of information in regard to the comparative performance of schools in respect of the academic achievement of their students or learners.

Section 8, which amends section 7 of the Student Support Act 2011, will reflect the Department's decision to transfer the administration of the PLC scheme to SOLAS on the basis of its general functions relating to further education and training under section 7(1) of the Further Education and Training Act 2013. This change will remove the reference in the legislation to PLC courses as "pursuant to a scheme administered by the Minister" in section 7 of the Student Support Act, ensuring clarity regarding the basis for prescribing PLC courses for the purpose of the student grant scheme.

Section 9 provides for the service of documents. Section 10 provides for the expenses of the Minister in the administration of the Act to be sanctioned and paid. Section 11 sets out the Short Title, collective citations and commencement provisions.

This Bill is an important step in promoting Ireland's ambitions for internationalisation and for the protection of the educational interests of our children. I hope Deputies will agree it is vital. During its passage through the Seanad, there was a very useful exchange of views with Senators. I look forward to listening to the views of Deputies today and to further debate as the Bill progresses through the Houses of the Oireachtas. I commend it to the House.

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