Plan to halve the number of third-level colleges

The number of third-level colleges could be more than halved to fewer than 20 under plans to be submitted to Education Minister Ruairi Quinn in March.

Draft proposals from the Higher Education Authority would see a mix of smaller colleges coming under university control, some institutes of technology merging to become technological universities, and a series of “regional clusters” to improve co-ordination of course provision, shared research, and resources.

The 39 higher education colleges that receive €1bn a year in public funding would be reduced to 15, although the futures of nine smaller ones need further discussion.