Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am pleased to bring the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 before the House. The main purpose of the Bill is to amalgamate the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, known as HETAC, and the Further Education and Training Awards Council, known as FETAC, into a new agency entitled the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland. The establishment of the new authority will fulfil a commitment in the programme for Government. The new agency will also take on responsibility for the external quality assurance of universities, which is currently carried out by the Irish Universities Quality Board.

Before I detail the main reforms provided for in the Bill and the reason for their introduction, I will give a brief outline of the nature and functions of each of the agencies that are amalgamating. I will also touch on some of the important work undertaken to date by these agencies, much of which has prepared the path for amalgamation. NQAI, HETAC and FETAC were established in 2001 under the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999. The core role of the NQAI is to establish and maintain a national framework of qualifications, which is a critical support for lifelong learning. The National Framework of Qualifications, NFQ, was launched in 2003 and comprises a system of ten levels incorporating awards made for all kinds of learning, wherever it is gained. The framework encompasses the broad spectrum of awards made in Ireland by national awarding bodies, from basic literacy awards up to doctoral degrees and it also provides the basis for recognising international qualifications.

The NQAI promotes access, transfer and progression opportunities for learners across the education and training system, consistent with the overall aims of the framework. It facilitates the recognition of Irish qualifications internationally as well as the recognition of international qualifications in Ireland. The NQAI does this at a systematic level through European and broader international agreements, but also at an individual level through its qualifications recognition service. It agrees and reviews the quality assurance arrangements of the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. More recently, it took over responsibility for the Advisory Council for English Language Schools, ACELS, which inspects and quality-assures English language schools in this country.

FETAC and HETAC make awards to more than 200,000 learners annually in the further and non-university higher education and training sectors. They also agree and review providers' quality assurance arrangements and validate their programmes of education and training. They provide services for providers such as the VECs, FÁS, community training and education centres, Fáilte Ireland, Teagasc, the institutes of technology, and private further and higher education and training institutions. FETAC and HETAC have developed standards for awards in a wide range of disciplines. A large number of individual programmes of education and training offered by a broad spectrum of public and private providers have been validated and quality assured. Through their systems of major, minor, supplemental and special purpose awards, the award councils and providers are at the forefront of efforts to provide flexible and responsive learning pathways.

The Irish Universities Quality Board, IUQB, was established in 2003 by the seven universities to externally review their quality assurance activities and to support quality enhancement. The IUQB has developed a detailed quality review process and has completed a full cycle of reviews. A second cycle is under way.

Before these agencies were established, there was little shared understanding of how the various awards in the State related to one another, and approaches to quality were uneven and unsystematic. The relationship between university awards and those awarded elsewhere in higher education was sometimes unclear, while in further education and training, more than 50 awards bodies were operating. The four agencies have made major progress in bringing coherence and consistency to Irish qualifications, in developing awards standards, in providing quality assurance to educational providers and programmes, and in facilitating progression opportunities for learners.

I will now outline the rationale for the amalgamation. It is widely recognised that education has a major contribution to make towards our economic recovery. A key challenge is to ensure that our education system caters for the needs of all learners, including those coming into further and higher education straight from school, those undertaking research in our universities, those looking to retrain and reskill following a period of unemployment and those seeking to supplement the skills they have developed in the workplace. Deputies will be aware of the significant reform programme that is currently under way in the provision of higher and further education and training, in particular through the implementation of key recommendations of the Hunt report and through the establishment of SOLAS. However, these reforms must be complemented by ensuring that we have fair and responsive ways of enabling learners to access and move between programmes and institutions, that learners can be assured of a quality experience in those institutions, and that the qualifications our learners receive enjoy wide recognition and respect.

I wish to recognise the significant progress that has been made towards this end by each of the agencies being amalgamated. The National Framework of Qualifications has become an integral component of the education landscape, and qualifications and quality assurance systems have been established in the various sectors. The linkages from the framework to progression and access policies and onwards to awarding and quality assurance are now such that four separate bodies operating in this area is no longer the most appropriate organisational response. I believe that further progress in this area can now be most efficiently and effectively achieved through the centralisation of functions into a single organisation that prioritises the needs of learners and that delivers a quality service to providers.

The amalgamation of the NQAI, HETAC and FETAC is a commitment in the programme for Government and forms part of the Government's broader public sector reform agenda that seeks to rationalise the number of State agencies. The establishment of the authority has the potential to achieve efficiencies that will ultimately result in cost savings. This builds on the efforts of the NQAI, HETAC and FETAC in recent years to reduce costs to reflect the current fiscal environment in which they operate. To this end, these agencies have already delivered significant savings through implementation of the public sector moratorium on recruitment and through expenditure reduction across their range of activities.

The bodies' collective Exchequer outturn cost for current expenditure in 2011 of almost €7 million is 46.5% lower than the comparable outturn in 2008. There is the potential to achieve further savings arising from the agency amalgamation through rationalised corporate structures and supports, integration of services and concentration of staff in a reduced number of locations. Overall, the establishment of the amalgamated agency will strengthen the focus on the quality and standards in our qualifications and institutions, will bring a strong focus to creating flexible pathways for all learners and will deliver a more efficient and coherent service for providers that also has the potential to achieve savings.

I will now turn to the Bill and outline its key components. The Bill sets out the overall structure of the amalgamated organisation and provides for its functions in the areas of: quality assurance of education and training providers; maintaining the National Framework of Qualifications; advising the Minister for Education and Skills on issues relating to quality assurance and enhancement in education and training; approving programmes of education and training; making awards to learners and delegating authority to institutions to make awards; procedures for learners to access programmes of education and training and to transfer and progress between programmes; developing a code of practice for institutions enrolling international learners and awarding an international education mark to qualifying institutions; and protecting learners in the event of the closure of an institution.

The Bill repeals the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999, under which the HETAC, FETAC and NQAI were established. Provisions on board composition and corporate governance have been revised and updated from the 1999 Act and the functions of the existing agencies have been consolidated. The statutory basis for the relationship of the new agency with various classes of provider and other stakeholders has been clarified and updated and the opportunity has been taken to address issues arising from the implementation of the 1999 legislation since its enactment. New provisions on the regulation of providers offering education and training services to international students have been included. The new amalgamated agency's official title will be the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland or QQAAI for short. However, the Bill allows the Minister for Education and Skills to assign a different name to the authority for operational purposes, and one that is more easily pronounced. This is similar to the arrangement where the National Tourism Development Authority is known as Fáilte Ireland.

It should be noted that administrative preparations for amalgamation are advancing under the co-ordination of an interim board of the QQAAI, comprising the chairs of the NQAI, HETAC, FETAC and IUQB. Work is being overseen by the chief executive officer, CEO, designate of QQAAI, who was appointed in October 2010. The CEO designate is now also CEO of all four existing bodies following the retirement on completion of contract or voluntary resignation of serving CEOs. I pay tribute to the co-operation and collaboration which all the people involved provided during that process. Progressing this work will enable the early establishment of the amalgamated agency following enactment of this legislation.

The Bill is set out in ten Parts containing 85 sections. I will now give an overview of its main provisions. Part 1 of the Bill is entitled "Preliminary and General" and covers the first six sections. These sections include provisions on citation and commencement, on the making of regulations, on repeals and on expenses incurred in the administration of the Bill. Section 2 defines the key terms used in the Bill and sets out the different categories of education and training providers to whom it applies. A wide range of education and training providers are covered by the provisions of the Bill. They include: existing universities and their linked providers, including colleges of education; any new universities, should any be established under section 9 of the Universities Act 1997 - there are none at present; Dublin Institute of Technology and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland which, like universities, have their own awarding powers; recognised colleges of the National University of Ireland; providers whose programmes are validated by the authority and lead to awards of the authority such as the VECs, FÁS and private providers; providers who have delegated authority to make awards - it should be noted that only institutes of technology have this authority at present; and providers who apply to be granted the International Education Mark for provision of education to international learners.

It should be noted that the overall quality and awarding framework set out in this Bill has sufficient flexibility to be applied to any new structures that are emerging or that will be introduced in the future. These include any structural changes that may arise as a result of separate legislation establishing SOLAS or in the event of recognition being granted to any technological universities in the future.

Part 2 of the Bill is entitled "Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland" and covers sections 7 to 26. Schedule 1 of the Bill is also associated with this Part. Part 2 deals with the establishment and corporate structure of the amalgamated body, sets out the body's overall functions and provides for the funding of the authority from moneys provided by the Oireachtas. The board of the authority will consist of eight members, including the CEO. All members, with the exception of the CEO, will be directly appointed by the Minister for Education and Skills. Unlike its predecessor bodies, there is no provision for nominations from stakeholder organisations to the board of QQAAI. Given the relationships QQAAI will have with organisations across the broad spectrum of education and training, I consider that the stakeholder nomination model would result, if it was to be truly representative, in a board that would be far too large to be fit for purpose. Furthermore, the body will consult widely in the performance of its functions and does not require all stakeholders to be represented in its governance structures in order for different voices to be heard.

Board members must have expertise in, and experience of, matters related to the functions of the authority. At least one member will be representative of learners and I consider this to be particularly important in ensuring student participation in the quality assurance process. It is my intention to invite the Union of Students of Ireland, USI, to consider nominating a person for that post. This will also complement the measures in place within individual institutions for student involvement in internal quality assurance procedures. At least one member of the board of the new authority will have international experience, and this is a recognition of the increased internationalisation of our education system in recent years. The Bill provides that the Minister for Education and Skills may review the operation of the authority from time to time.

Part 3 of the Bill is entitled "Quality Assurance" and covers sections 27 to 42. This Part sets out how providers must establish and implement quality assurance procedures to cover the provision of education and training and related services and have them approved by the authority, which will also periodically review their effectiveness. The core provisions, although much more detailed, are similar to those in the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999 and the Universities Act 1997. There are, however, some significant changes.

In the first instance, the provisions of the Bill extend to a greater number of providers than previously. For the first time, there is provision for the establishment of quality assurance procedures by linked providers of universities, such as colleges of education, and by recognised colleges of the National University of Ireland. The Bill also provides for the review of the quality assurance procedures established within linked providers by the relevant awarding authority. The Bill also makes statutory provision for the external review of the effectiveness of the quality assurance procedures of universities. This function was previously carried out by the Irish Universities Quality Board but under delegated power from the universities themselves. Acknowledging the greater autonomy that universities traditionally enjoy both here in Ireland and internationally, the authority will not have a specific approval role for the quality assurance procedures of universities. However, universities must implement the authority's directions following a review by the authority of the effectiveness of their quality assurance procedures.

It is important to emphasise that the provisions of the Bill in this area will not encroach upon the academic autonomy of universities with regard to how they organise their programmes of education or research and how they quality assure those programmes. The authority's role relating to quality assurance in previously established universities and providers generally will be simply to act as an external quality assurance agency, to periodically evaluate the effectiveness of the universities' own internal quality assurance procedures. This mirrors the review provisions currently set out in section 35 of the Universities Act 1997, with the authority replacing the governing authority of the university as the review body. In this respect, the authority will continue the role of the Irish Universities Quality Board, IUQB, with regard to external quality review. This will ensure that a single agency has responsibility for external quality assurance across the further and higher education spectrum. The Bill provides explicitly that the authority can withdraw its approval of the quality assurance arrangements of providers or linked providers and that in those circumstances, validation of all programmes automatically is withdrawn and awarding arrangements terminated. In such instances, there will of course be an appeals mechanism and I will return to this issue shortly. The Bill also empowers the authority to undertake quality reviews at cross-institutional level. This could include reviews of a particular subject or award type or reviews of provision on a regional basis.

Part 4 of the Bill is entitled "Standards and Awards" and covers sections 43 to 58. This Part sets out the provisions regarding the National Framework of Qualifications and the making of awards by the authority. It enables the authority to determine the standards of knowledge, skill or competence to be acquired by a learner before an award is made. This Part of the Bill sets out the procedures whereby providers may apply to the authority to have a programme of education and training validated. It also provides for the delegation of authority to make awards. Awarding power currently is only delegated to institutes of technology but the Bill enables delegation to a wider set of providers subject to certain conditions being met and a review being undertaken. The Bill provides that procedures for access, transfer and progression by learners must be developed by providers. Such procedures are necessary to ensure that learners can access programmes and can move between them in flexible ways, while receiving recognition for their learning already achieved. This will help to ensure the learners' needs are paramount in the system of awards and qualifications. In a change from the provisions of the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999, public providers that do not have their own awarding power will be permitted to enter into award-making arrangements with an awarding body other than the authority. This will give providers access to a wider and evolving range of awards and will provide for greater flexibility into the future. The awards made must be recognised through the National Framework of Qualifications, which means they are quality-assured and that progression opportunities are understood.

Part 5 of the Bill is entitled "Code of Practice and International Educational Mark" and covers sections 59 to 62. This Part sets out the arrangements for providers that provide programmes to international learners. The authority will develop a code of practice for providing education to international learners. Providers will be able to apply for an international education mark, based on their compliance with the code of practice. The code of practice will be based on strong requirements in respect of academic quality and will cover such issues as the treatment of fees and support services for international students. The code of practice and the international education mark are core elements in Ireland's international education strategy, Investing in Global Relationships. They will be important supports in enhancing the international reputation of the education system by assuring international learners of a high-quality educational experience in Ireland.

Part 6 of the Bill is entitled "Protection of Enrolled Learners" and covers sections 63 to 66. This Part sets out the arrangements those providers offering programmes leading to awards of the authority must have in place for the protection of learners in the event of the provider ceasing to trade. The arrangements must be put in place where a programme is of at least three months' duration and can be an agreement between the provider and two other providers to allow learners to transfer to a similar programme or, where this is not possible, arrangements for the refund of moneys paid. These arrangements are unchanged from the provision of the 1999 Act but extend to a wider set of providers. The arrangements do not apply to certain providers, generally publicly funded, including universities, institutes of technology, FÁS, Fáilte Ireland, Teagasc, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, VECs and recognised schools.

Part 7 is entitled "Appeals" and covers sections 67 to 69. This Part provides for a process to be put in place to enable appeals against a range of decisions of the authority. In line with best practice, appeals will be determined by an appeals panel under published procedures. The appeals panel will be appointed by the Minister for Education and Skills and will consist of at least ten people with a special interest or expertise in, or knowledge of, education and training or the functions of the authority. Part 8 is entitled "Dissolution of Bodies" and covers sections 70 to 76. This Part provides for the dissolution of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, NQAI, the Further Education and Training Awards Council, FETAC, and the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, HETAC. Any reference to these bodies in a legal document will now be construed as a reference to the new authority. Any claim or legal proceedings by or against a dissolved body will now lie with the authority. All property, assets and records of each of the dissolved bodies will transfer to the authority. Part 9 is entitled "Miscellaneous provisions" and covers sections 77 to 82. This Part sets out miscellaneous provisions, such as the maintenance of a register of providers and a database, fees the authority may charge, provisions regarding institutes of technology and service of documents.

Part 10 is entitled "Transitional and Savings Provisions for Act of 1999 and Amendments of other Acts" and covers sections 83 to 85. This Part, together with Schedule 3, provides for transitional and savings provisions for the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999 and for amendments of other Acts. This allows for the continuation of certain policies and criteria under the 1999 Act until such time as the authority adopts new procedures. These provisions cover such matters as agreed quality assurance procedures, reviews, policies and criteria for validation of programme and applications for validation, awards by a dissolved body to be an award of the authority, policies and criteria standards for awards, policies and criteria for making of awards, delegation of authority and NQAI procedures for access, transfer and progression and charters. There are three Schedules to the Bill. Schedule 1 deals with the particulars of membership of the board of the authority and meetings of the authority. Schedule 2 lists Acts repealed and statutory instruments revoked. Section 35 of the Universities Act, which deals with quality assurance, is to be repealed together with the entire Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999. Schedule 3 lists amendments to other Acts. There are 17 such amendments in total.

In conclusion, this Bill is an important step in maintaining and improving standards in education and training for all learners, including those who choose to come to Ireland from overseas. It will build on the progress made in recent years by the NQAI, HETAC, FETAC and the IUQB. The new authority will place learners' needs at the centre of Ireland's awards and qualifications system, while also providing a more coherent framework for providers that has the potential to create further efficiencies and cost savings. I welcome sincerely the opportunity to debate the Bill in the House and I look forward to hearing the views of Deputies on all sides today. I commend the Bill to the House.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Brendan Smith. As this debate will adjourn at 7.30 p.m., the Deputy may continue on the next day if he has not concluded.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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That is fine. On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I welcome this legislation and assure the Minister the party will be constructive in its approach to this legislation in this House, as was my colleague, Senator Averil Power, in Seanad Éireann, where detailed debates took place on both Second and Committee Stages. When in government, Fianna Fáil gave a commitment to amalgamate the various qualifications and quality assurance bodies and that was the correct decision. This policy is being pursued by the Minister, Deputy Quinn, which is to be welcomed.

I believe the new authority and new structures have the potential to be a highly positive development for the education sector. The expertise and experiences that have been built up by the various bodies can be put to good use under the auspices of a single authority. The new authority will benefit from the synergies to be gained from the proposed restructuring. To my knowledge, there has been no credible criticism of the work of the bodies which are to be restructured. As the Minister noted in his opening remarks, they developed and became more successful in recent years and have contributed to and enhanced the further and higher education systems. The restructuring under consideration has been recommended in the efficiency review conducted by the Department of Education and Skills itself, in the OECD report, Towards an Integrated Public Service, as well as in the McCarthy report of 2009, which examined overall Government and public service structures and expenditure.

The new structures will enable the delivery of plans more effectively and more efficiently across the entire higher and further education sector. It makes ample sense that the providers of the courses will only have a single body with which to deal and this should lead to efficiencies on the part both of the authority and the providers. On numerous occasions, I have highlighted in this House, be it as a member of a party in government or in opposition, the need to minimise duplication and eliminate where possible overlapping of rules by different agencies. Institutions should have to deal with the minimum number of bodies rather than a plethora of agencies with unnecessary administrative costs. There is also the important aspect of ensuring that procedures are as much as possible simplified to make them more effective in terms of enabling progression across the system. There has been good progress in this country in the area of progression through the education system. As we all know, this progress must be continued.

The quality of our education is of huge importance from a social and economic point of view. Continuous improvement is needed. I believe that this legislation has the potential to assist considerably in this respect. Quality assurance must be uppermost in our deliberations. Quality assurance relates also to the student experience and ensuring they have the best possible experience of education. The procedures in place for quality assurance should reflect this. It is important that the voice of students and feedback from the student community is heard at all levels. Student representatives have an important role to play in making a positive input where the quality of courses is being considered. Over the years, some institutions have developed good procedures for involving students and quality assurance and view it as a positive which is how it should be viewed. We must be clear that partnership with learners is the best way to improve. It must be in every institution's interest to improve its systems. We have all learned from the recent university rankings that the quality of the student experience is valued internationally. It is a good decision to have a student representative on the authority. I welcome the Minister's affirmation this evening that a USI representative will be appointed to the authority. My colleague in Seanad Éireann, having been a student leader, would advocate that the Minister should appoint two student members to that eight member body. However, I will leave it to the Minister to decide on the number of representatives.

I understand that the authority's main role will be external quality assurance. I believe the universities have good internal procedures. The right balance between internal and external review needs to be achieved. Supporting self-evaluation is important, as is empowering leadership in institutions at all levels, be it at course, department or faculty level. Access, transfer and progression must be a key function of the work of the new authority. The merger of existing agencies must assist in this regard. As the Minister and I stated earlier, progression has improved. The qualifications framework developed by previous Governments has helped this process. The progress achieved to date needs to be built upon and to be given additional momentum. It will be incumbent on the new authority to publish procedures in regard to progression pathways. This will be extremely important and should be an early task for the authority. Indeed, it should be a priority for it. Clear paths to progression would help a huge number of students in the years to come. This progression must be as accessible as possible to the maximum number of suitable students. A successful progression system will enable us to provide greater access to third level for those students not in a position to gain entry through the traditional higher education route. Obviously, the international reputation of our education system is important. The authority will encourage education providers to provide for an international education mark based on their compliance with the code of conduct. It goes without saying that standards and integrity are of the utmost importance in this respect.

As I said earlier, this Bill will create a single agency, a new authority, which will enable consistency in quality and standards and the introduction of a more cost-effective service, removing any overlapping responsibilities. However, the Minister has decided not to dissolve the National University of Ireland, NUI, as originally proposed by former Minister for Education and Science, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe. Perhaps the Minister will in his closing Second Stage speech explain the reason for the exclusion of the NUI from the merger. If he cannot do so on the conclusion of the Second Stage debate, we could debate the matter on Committee Stage.

This Bill will create a new body, the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland, QQAAI, which will consolidate services resulting in the dissolution of a number of bodies as outlined by the Minister. I, too, pay tribute to the work of these bodies, many of which were established in relatively recent times. Those bodies being dissolved include the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, the Further Education and Training Awards Council, the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland and the Irish Universities Quality Board, all of which have played an important role in the development of the further and higher education sector during the past decade and in some cases 15 to 20 years. The establishment of the new Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland and the development of this legislation was first proposed when former Deputy Batt O'Keeffe was Minister for Education and Science. As I said earlier, it had been intended that the NUI would be part of this new body. There has been significant progress in bringing greater coherence to how qualifications in Ireland were awarded during the past ten years. Prior to the enactment of the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999 which established HETAC, FETAC and NQAI, there were more than 50 awarding bodies, including FÁS, Fáilte Ireland and Teagasc. It was appropriate that the number of bodies in this area was reduced substantially.

The remit of the new Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland will be to maintain the national framework of qualifications and deepen its implementation; to promote the framework in Ireland and abroad and raise awareness of how qualifications are organised; to review the policies and criteria on which the national framework of qualifications is based; to publish procedures and access transfer and progression; to advise the Departments of Education and Skills and Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation on national policy and qualifications and learning outcomes across life long learning; and to oversee the implementation of national policy on the certification of learning outcomes across life long learning and advise the Departments of Education and Skills and Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation on national policy on the cumulation and transfer of credit and on the recognition of prior learning, which are wide-ranging and important responsibilities. I welcome their consolidation in this new authority.

The Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland, QQAAI, will decide on the standards that must be met for an award to be given, and where standards are not met, on the removal of the validation of the programme concerned. The Bill also makes statutory provision for the external review of the effectiveness of the quality assurance procedures of universities. While the authority will not have a specific approval role for the quality assurance procedures of universities, the universities must implement the authority's directions following a review. Furthermore, the Bill empowers - this is another important provision - the authority to undertake quality reviews at a cross-institutional level. This can include reviews of a particular subject, award type or of provision on a regional basis.

In reference to his proposal to include the National University of Ireland, NUI, in this new structure, the former Minister for Education and Science, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe said in early 2010:

Since the enactment of the Universities Act 1997, the National University of Ireland 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.