Colleges face sanctions for funding non-compliance

Simon Harris, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, said: "We want to have the best education system in Europe and to achieve that we need to modernise." Picture:Gareth Chaney/Collins

Colleges that do not comply with funding conditions will face sanctions, including having their grants withheld, under new published legislation aimed at reforming the governance of the Higher Education sector.

Under the legislation, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) will be able to set conditions for funding third-level institutions and guidelines on how much of a university’s budget should be applied to its different activities.

It will also be able to set performance frameworks, which will be developed at least every four years, and the size and set-up of university governing authorities are also due to be changed. 

Institutions will also be required to set an "equality statement" detailing how they encourage access to their institutions for economically disadvantaged students, disabled people, and for people from sections of society underrepresented in the student body. 

The details are included in the Higher Education Authority Act, 2021, the first reforms to the current legislation governing higher education in 50 years. 

The legislation is aimed at improving governance by giving the HEA increased legal powers. 

Under the act, sanctions that may be taken against an institution if "serious deficiencies" are found in complying with funding conditions include: 

• The exclusion for a specific time period from receipt of some or all categories of grants from the HEA 
• The withholding of a grant due to be paid to the institution
• Requiring the institution to refund the grant paid by the HEA back to the authority. 

The HEA is currently responsible for allocating overall funding worth €1.4bn to the higher education institutes. 

No changes are to be made to the current legislative provisions related to academic freedom. 

However, institutions will be expected to "respond to the delivery of policies or objectives of the Government or the Minister as they relate to higher education and training and to the needs of business, enterprise, the professions, the community, local interests, and other stakeholders.”

Changes to the Higher Education Act were first initiated in 2017, following increased scrutiny on the governance of higher-level institutions. 

The published legislation will support a higher education system that has grown and evolved, in particular over the past two decades, according to Dr Alan Wall, the chief executive of the HEA. 

"The State invests considerable resources into our system and needs to be assured that it and our students are getting the best possible return on that investment," Dr Wall said. 

"Our institutions require a balance between autonomy and accountability if they are to continue to innovate and to respond to national challenges and needs.”

Simon Harris, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, said: "We want to have the best education system in Europe and to achieve that we need to modernise."

Niall Collins, Minister of State for Skills and Further Education, said: “This is not about creating an extensive suite of new responsibilities for the HEA but, instead, its new legal powers will deliver a more robust basis for the functions it is already carrying out."