Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 194: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her proposals to confer NIHE status on Waterford Institute of Technology in order that NIHE Waterford may develop along the same route as the University of Limerick and Dublin City University developed from NIHE Limerick and NIHE Glasnevin respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2146/05]

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her proposals to grant Waterford Institute of Technology a stand alone status similar to Dublin Institute of Technology as a first step towards university status; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2148/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 and 196 together.

There are no plans to change the status of Waterford Institute of Technology. My Department, however, continues to work with Waterford Institute of Technology in developing and upgrading the institute.

In July 1996, the Government approved in principle the recommendations in the report of the Steering Committee on the Future Development of Higher Education, as a benchmark for future planning in the sector. The steering committee concluded that an upgrading and expansion of Waterford Regional College, now Waterford Institute of Technology, represented the most appropriate response to the higher education needs of the south east region. The committee's report also recommended an increase in student places, an increase in degree level awards and a change of title. It was recommended that the major focus of expansion be at degree level. It stated that such provision would place the college at the top end of the spectrum in terms of provision of degree places and would enable the region to reach the national average participation rate in degree programmes.

The Government accepted these recommendations. The provision, in both the total number of places and in degree level courses, in Waterford Institute of Technology has been expanded annually and incrementally in line with available resources. These measures, combined with the change of title of the college provide the necessary status and capacity for the institute to meet the identified higher education needs of the region over the coming years.

Consistent with this approach, WIT was among the first institutes of technology to be given authority to make its own educational awards under the terms of the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999.

In this regard, it should also be noted that the OECD Review of Higher Education in Ireland, which was released on 16 September 2004, recommends that the differentiation of mission between the university and the institute of technology sectors be preserved and that for the foreseeable future there be no further institutional transfers into the university sector.