2002 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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Higher Education and Training Awards Council
Turning a new page in higher education – news from the Higher Education & Training Awards Council

HETAC COUNCIL MEMBERS WITH MINISTER MICHAEL WOODS AT THE LAUNCH OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING AWARDS COUNCIL (HETAC) IN JUNE 2001
Back Row: Colm Jordan; Maria Horan; Diarmuid Hegarty; Séamus Púirséil – Chief Executive HETAC; Danny Brennan; Mary Meaney; Ed Riordan.
Front Row: Kay Hallahan; Dr Michael Woods, Minister for Education and Science; Ciaran Murphy – Chairperson HETAC; Pat Kelleher.

The Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) has now been in operation for just over a year. HETAC is the qualifications awarding body for third-level education and training outside the university sector. It is the legal successor to the NCEA (National Council for Educational Awards) and takes over many of its functions, although it has a wider remit in terms of assuring the quality of higher education and training in its sector. Over 100,000 Irish people have received NCEA awards and these are in no way diminished, in either value or status, by the new name or changes in the organisational functions. Indeed, one of the most successful initiatives of the NCEA, that of the ACCS (Accumulation of Credits and Certification of Subjects) scheme, continues to give the opportunity to people, mainly adults, to acquire qualifications at their own pace. Some 1483 people (806 female and 677 male) received full awards of certificates, diplomas or degrees gained under ACCS mode in 2001.

HETAC awards qualifications at all levels of higher education and training up to PhD level. From 2002 onwards, four of its recognised institutions will award their own qualifications in the certificate and diploma categories: the Institutes of Technology at Cork, Galway-Mayo, Sligo and Waterford. HETAC will continue to award degrees in these institutions, and all academic awards in all its other institutions and colleges.


HETAC ANNUAL PRIZE DAY WEDNESDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2002
Back row: Sarah Ann Creaven (Limerick IT) – HETAC Prize for Design; Padraic Black (Dundalk IT) – Harbison Memorial Prize; Ciaran Murphy, Chairman, HETAC; Brian Murphy (Portobello College) – HETAC Prize for Computing; Ciara Moroney (Cork School of Music) – Bridget Doolan Memorial Prize; Rachel Daly (Crawford College of Art & Design) – Larkin Memorial Prize.
Front Row: Bernadette Ni Ghloinn (Galway-Mayo IT) – Duais na Gaeilge; Mary M. O’Brien (HSI College Limerick) – Marketing Institute Prize; Kathryn Quinn (Athlone IT) – Dr Tom Walsh Prize.

A range of opportunities to gain access to specified levels of membership of professional bodies are granted to HETAC award recipients in several areas of academic study. The Institute of Biology, the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Chemistry in Ireland all offer different classes of membership to HETAC award recipients in Science depending on the level of qualification gained by the student.

The main functions of the Council are to be found on the HETAC website at www.hetac.ie . Best public agency practice provides that the website contains the text of reports and recommendations on HETAC's main activities – for example, programme validation, policies and procedures, guidelines for institutional quality assurance procedures, etc. A policy of openness, transparency and accountability is in operation and the availability of documents to download from the website accords with the policy of wide consultation practice which is planned as the hallmark of HETAC activities.

Finally, HETAC ensures, in accordance with legislation, that student assessment procedures within all institutions are fair and consistent, and that academic and financial protection for students is in place in commercial educational institutions providing programmes validated by HETAC.
General enquiries should be addressed to the Information Services Officer,
HETAC, 26, Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1;
Tel. +353-1-855-6526; Fax: +353-1-855-4250;
E-mail: [email protected] ; Web: www.hetac.ie