Following reform in Wales there have been calls across the rest of the UK nations for holistic tertiary governance of higher, further, and vocational education and training. Edge is particularly interested in international policy learning, and we were keen to hear about international policies, practices, and experiences. This summer, we talked to a number of different stakeholders in Ireland through a series of online ‘study visits’ to learn more about how they are moving towards a tertiary system.
Evolution of the Tertiary System in Ireland
Ireland's education system has undergone significant reform in recent years, with a National Strategy to 2030 to create a more coherent, unified tertiary education structure that fosters collaboration, addresses skill gaps through upskilling and reskilling, and enhances access.
Ireland boasts large tertiary participation rates, with 62% of 25-34 year olds holding a tertiary level qualification in comparison to the UK at 57% and the EU-27 average of 41% in 2021.[1] Governance is distributed between the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and SOLAS (Further Education and Skills Service) under the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS). Historically, the Irish system was fragmented between further education and training, Institutes of Technology, and universities, and competition for university places remains intense. In 2022 the Irish government announced a plan for tertiary education. It established the new National Tertiary Office (NTO) under the HEA with regional offices to encourage collaboration between FE and HE and to facilitate access to study for underprivileged groups.
Initiatives under development include facilitating pathways for students aiming for a particular career but without specific entry requirements, and programmes to enable students to begin their studies in further education training centres and complete them at university campuses. One NTO pilot scheme launched with a very short timeframe up to September 2023 and was successful in launching 13 courses and a total of around 200 participants. At Edge, we were particularly interested in another initiative, the new Technological Universities.
Technological Universities
Technological Universities (TUs) have emerged as key institutions in Ireland's reshaped higher education landscape. Five TUs were formed from 2019 supported by a three year €90million government assistance programme through mergers of 11 of 13 Institutes of Technology. These institutions were originally regional training colleges delivering lower-level vocational training. Over time, their remit evolved as anchor institutions to include awarding degrees and doctorates and their new status as TUs acknowledges this pre-existing role. While the TUs are in still in a formative phase in clarifying their purpose, TUs differentiate themselves from universities by prioritising teaching, research, and collaboration that directly contributes to local industries and regional economic development. And, unlike universities that offer a broader range of programmes and disciplines, it is envisaged that TUs would avoid duplication of courses offered by institutions in close proximity and specialise to avoid redundancies. Their geographic location was strategically intended to address ‘HE cold spots’ and enable socio-economic growth in areas that lack university presence. Deliberate decisions had to be made about which Institutes would be part of which TUs, considering regional coverage and specialisms, while simultaneously balancing the needs of separate institutions within one umbrella institution.
In their teaching, TUs emphasise applied learning, job readiness, and work-based learning, and have sustained their close relationships with the further education and training sector. TUs are designed to enhance access to higher education by recognising prior learning, for example through apprenticeships, and promote programmes tailored to students from disadvantaged backgrounds and mature students. Their lifelong learning offer is promoted as more adaptive and reactive to employer requirements, with a streamlined validation process and targeted government funding to address skills gaps in particular sectors. They have also collaborated as a sector, including initiatives such as the NTUTORR (National Technological university Transformation for Recovery and Resilience) to transform learning, teaching and assessment through programmes to coordinate and integrate academic integrity, digital capacity, universal design for learning, principles of equality, diversity and inclusion, and UN Sustainable Development Goals within the curriculum for all students.
The establishment of TUs was met with some resistance, particularly from the university sector, due to concerns about reputation. Stakeholders we talked to indicated there had been a considerable effort to articulate to other stakeholders, including students, industry partners, and the broader education community how TUs would contribute to regional development, industry engagement, and the overall tertiary education landscape.
Atlantic Technological University
We spoke to a number of representatives from Technological Universities, including Atlantic Technological University. Atlantic Technological University has eight, soon to be nine, campuses, dispersed from the top of Ireland to Galway, teaching around 22,000 students. Initially formed from three Institutes of Technology, their merger aimed to improve regional access to education in an area the size of Wales that hitherto had no university and limited established infrastructure. Streamlining degree-awarding capabilities in the area was intended to provide the pipeline of graduates for prospective companies entering the region. The university's focus on applied education, apprenticeships, and strong industry collaborations including SMEs and multinationals industry partnerships, to directly addresses skill shortages and provides students with a job-ready education. Establishing industry demand is a significant factor in programme development, and their provision, including flexible online professional development courses, are developed in partnership with industry partners. Likewise, validation of new programmes involves internal and external panels including industry representatives. The university is involved in various projects related to innovative and inclusive models of learning, including workplace learning, project-based learning, micro-credentials, recognition of prior learning, and integration of sustainability into learning.
Reflections
The establishment of Technological Universities in Ireland serves as a helpful case study of how a reimagined tertiary education system can transform access, inclusivity, and collaboration. As Edge has explored in our wider research however, where policy borrowing occurs without adequate consideration of the distinctive socioeconomic contexts of the original initiative, subsequent outcomes can differ markedly. The Irish tertiary initiative is more systematic than efforts in England, but the scale of the system is more similar to the Scottish system, and contrasts to the Welsh government’s more top-down approach to fostering tertiary collaboration, as Edge has also explored. Identifying these differences remain an important exercise to help inform tertiary initiatives, as it becomes clear that greater coordination of third level is necessary to respond to the changing needs of students, employers, and society.