Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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1333. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an overview of any changes that have taken place to the PhD framework during this Government’s lifetime including any consolidation and collaboration among providers. [33708/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) have been working to develop a National Doctoral Framework, whose purpose is to facilitate consistent and enhanced excellence in the quality of doctoral education and training (including Masters Research) in order to ensure that Ireland has high quality, international standard PhD programmes. The Framework will enable higher-education institutions to work more closely in the delivery of an improved learner experience and outcomes. It will ensure discipline-specific knowledge, and the development of relevant transferable skills in order to maximise the employability across a broad range of employment sectors, including academia and industry.

The implementation of the Framework will be the subject of ongoing dialogue between the HEA, QQI, higher-education institutions, funding agencies, industry and other relevant stakeholders. It is anticipated that the National Doctoral Framework will be published by the end of the year.