The Irish qualifications system revealed
Representatives of the NQF project visited the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI) on July 1-3, 2012. The aim of this study visit was to learn about the principles and functioning of their register, qualifications system and the procedures for entering a qualification into the register. Ireland has over ten years of experience in working with qualifications frameworks, though the start of this system began emerging in the mid-1980s. At that time, the national qualifications system underwent extensive changes to simplify the existing solutions and adapt them to the needs of stakeholders. The framework currently in development is a successive reform of the system – its legal foundation is a law - the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill of 2011. Enacting the reform will probably begin in the fall of this year (September-October), and in the opinion of NQAI representatives, implementation will be carried out over the next three years.
Sean O’Reilly, the chief consultant for the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, met with us on behalf of the Authority. During the first part of the meeting, Mr. O’Reilly presented the history of the information technology solutions used in the Irish National Framework of Qualifications and in developing Qualifax – the National Learners’ Database.
The Irish Qualifications Framework (IQF) has 10 levels. The Irish system has several independent registers operated by:
- the Further Education & Training Awards Council (FETAC), for vocational training and courses up to and including level 6 of the IQF,
- the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC), and
- Institutes of Technology (IOT), and the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), as above, from levels 6 to 10.
NQAI is responsible for establishing, operating and monitoring the Irish National Qualifications Framework, and for overseeing FETAC and HETAC. The role of NQAI is based on, among other things, establishing and promoting appropriate standards in education, training and higher education. NQAI is also the institution to which appeals are addressed on decisions made by FETAC or HETAC on granting or rescinding the right to award a qualification.
Regulations in the new law foresee the merger of NQAI, FETAC, HETAC and the Irish Universities Quality Board (IUOB), with one national institution established in their place – the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland. This Authority will operate one register. Qualifications (and the appropriate institutions) from the university level of education will be included in the system based on a special law. The reform will also affect institutions supervising the quality assurance of qualifications, and their structure will be simplified.
Grafton Street, Dublin, photo: Anna Piotrowska
In the second part of the meeting, Ray O’Neill from FETAC presented the structure of the qualifications register. FETAC not only operates a qualifications register in its area of education, but is also the sole owner and institution awarding diplomas in vocational education. Institutions (and/or firms) known as “providers” offer non-formal learning opportunities (workshops, courses) and conduct examinations, but only FETAC has the right to award the diploma.
FETAC works closely with almost 1,000 providers that organise training and courses and conduct examinations. 7,000 diplomas (awards) are included in its database, of which 3,000 are active. It is interesting that FETAC’s computer system contains not only all the diplomas and qualifications, but also data on the persons to whom they were awarded (this means 1.2 million persons). Developing such a large database required sizeable financial expenditures. The cost of the existing system was over 4 million Euros. The system’s operating and support costs are about 1.2 million Euros per year (including staff costs and externally provided services). The entire system was developed in such a way as to limit the work of a person. This means that many processes are automated. For example, the system itself monitors user activity and notifies all involved in a given process about deviations to operating standards (such as delays in responding to users’ query forms).
FETAC’s communications with the outside world occurs mainly through its internet site. During the first six months of 2012, the site was visited by 250,000 unique users, or about 40,000 per month. Just about 4.5 million people live in Ireland, so if these proportions were applied to Poland (38.5 million population), we would have almost 400,000 unique users per month. Any problems with the functioning of the database or questions related to specific diplomas or the functioning of the system are resolved by specialists. There is no special help desk responding to users questions.
During the meeting, the issue of costs was raised in relation to informing the public about the next planned reform of the Irish qualifications system. Our hosts explained that instead of using mass media (radio and television) to inform about the changes, educational or trade events will be organised instead. Using mass media was found to be very expensive and completely ineffective in the past. Traditional and less costly methods of informing people will be used, such as lectures, brochures and promotional gadgets – printed cups, rulers, erasers and pens distributed to the direct beneficiaries of the qualifications system. Such activities were found to provide an exceptionally satisfying effect.
