Diploma courses to be upgraded to degrees

COURSES previously recognised for diploma awards will earn graduates a higher education degree from next autumn, under changes to third level qualification systems.

The move should make Irish third-level awards more meaningful to both overseas employers and foreign students considering taking courses here.

The National Qualifications Authority of Ireland has put forward the changes in the format of a new framework, which sets different qualifications at set levels. There are 10 different levels, ranging from level one, recognising basic literacy and numeracy, to level 10 for a doctorate degree.

National certificates, usually awarded after a two-year course, will become known as higher certificates and will be set at level six on the framework.

The national diploma, given to graduates of three-year courses mostly undertaken at institutes of technology, will become an ordinary bachelor degree and one level above a higher certificate.

The Council of Directors of the Institutes of Technology believes the new awards will make the system more transparent, particularly outside of Ireland.

“Students coming here in the past have had difficulty understanding what a diploma meant in the context of higher education, but changing the title to a degree should make it easier and more attractive,” said the council’s senior academic executive Dr Dermot Douglas.

The new awards should also be clearer for overseas employers, more accustomed to the use of degree titles when they are recruiting workers or receiving job applications from Irish graduates.

Above the ordinary bachelor degree, a three or four-year university bachelor degree will become known as an honours bachelor degree, equivalent to level eight. Levels nine and 10 of the qualifications framework will be for masters and doctorate awards.

Under extended changes due to be announced in the autumn, awards given for those completing further education courses will also be set out within the framework. The Junior Certificate will be at level three and Leaving Certificate at levels four and five.

The changes will be announced by Minister of State Síle de Valera next week but will come into effect for those graduating next year.