Socrates/Erasmus National Agencies

Meeting 7 May 2004

Danny Brennan, RegistrarLetterkenny Institute of Technology

National ECTS/DS Co-ordinator

7 May 2004 NAs Meeting2

Overview

Higher Education in Ireland Binary System

New Developments Bologna Compliance ECTS and Diploma Supplement

Current Status

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Higher Education in Ireland

Providers Universities (Universities Act, 1997)

Funded by Higher Education Authority (HEA) Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT Act,

1992) Funded by Higher Education Authority (HEA)

Institutes of Technology (RTC Act 1992) Funded by Dept of Education and Science

(DoES), under review Private providers

7 May 2004 NAs Meeting4

Current Issues

Review of Higher Education currently being done by OECD

Debate about funding Re-introduction of fees

Structure of Academic Year Debate about wider introduction of

semesterisation

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New Developments

Qualifications Act, 1999 given effect from June 2001

3 Bodies Established National Qualifications Authority of Ireland

(NQAI www.nqai.ie) Higher Education and Training Awards Council

(HETAC www.hetac.ie) Further Education and Training Awards Council

(FETAC www.fetac.ie)

7 May 2004 NAs Meeting6

NQAI

National Framework of Qualifications Learner-centred approach All qualifications in State up to PhD (10

Levels) Higher Education levels 6-10 New Award Titles

Higher Certificate (two years) Ordinary Bachelor Degree (three years) Honours Bachelor Degree (four years)

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HETAC

Responsible for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in extra-university sector (excl DIT) Institutes of Technology (IoTs) Private Providers

IoTs may seek Delegated Authority to make their own awards

7 May 2004 NAs Meeting8

Bologna Compliance

Higher Education generally structured in three cycles First cycle bachelor – mix of three

year/four year (full-time) programmes Second cycle – generally 1 calendar year

to 2 academic years Third cycle – generally 3 calendar years

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Issues

Some faculties not currently ‘Bologna compliant’ e.g. Medicine, Architecture, Dentistry

3-4 year honours bachelor particularly in context of National

Framework of Qualifications

7 May 2004 NAs Meeting10

ECTS

Intrinsic part of all courses in DIT and HETAC providers Used as accumulation system in HETAC

sector Imbedded in the 2 newest universities

Used for internal disbursement of budgets Patchy in other universities

7 May 2004 NAs Meeting11

Local Credit issues

Credit not yet part of new Framework of Qualifications

Systems for allocation and review of credit not as rigorous as might be involvement of learners now seen as

essential ‘Same’ module having different

credits depending on course

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Wider Credit Issues

European Framework of Qualifications – credit included? ECTS credits are not currently

‘level’ related Bologna implicitly created levels within

higher education awards (cycles) but each cycle probably needs to be further sub-divided

7 May 2004 NAs Meeting13

Levels and Credits

Related to the development of a European Framework of Qualifications

Current thinking [in ECTS Group] is to have at least 2 ‘levels’ of credits for each cycle distinguished by level descriptors e.g. a first cycle degree to have type ‘A’ and

type ‘B’ credits; regulation might be that a first cycle degree has 180 credits, at least 80 of which shall be type ‘B’ credits (100 type ‘A’ + 80 type ‘B’)

7 May 2004 NAs Meeting14

Levels and Credits cont.

Cross cycle credit transfer Possibility of having some first cycle

credits contribute to a second cycle award; e.g. a module on Research Methodologies which might be taught to both first and second cycle degree students

7 May 2004 NAs Meeting15

Diploma Supplement

Berlin commitment – all students graduating from 2005 to get DS

Pilot Project in Ireland National template developed LYIT, DIT and DCU participating Pilot to be reviewed and rolled out

Migration to EUROPASS!!!!!