Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1032. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 463 of 28 February 2023, his views on the disparity for accreditation of similar SNA courses in two different third level institutions (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13707/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Higher Education Institutions are autonomous with regard to their academic affairs. Both UCD and St Angela’s College, which is a constituent college of the University of Galway, are Designating Awarding Bodies. These bodies hold their own statutory awarding powers and have established processes and procedures for the validation of the courses and awards that they offer. The validation of these courses and awards is subject to each Institution’s internal quality assurance processes. These processes are established in line with the corresponding standards and criteria for award types and levels on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). The Minister would have no role in these processes.

In the cases outlined, it is a matter for UCD and the University of Galway to determine the appropriate NFQ level for the awards they respectively offer. This would be based on the design of each course, the course content and the learning outcomes that students would be intended to achieve.