Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and as such are academically independent and are entitled to regulate their own academic affairs and administrative processes. Therefore responsibility for examinations and assessments rests ultimately with each individual institution.
The national co-ordination group for tertiary education, which includes representatives from my Department and third level institutions, is meeting regularly to discuss key issues in the tertiary sector including issues around examinations and assessments.
The challenging circumstances that students are facing are being taken into account in the design and marking of revised assessments. Institutions will be ensuring that students suffer no academic disadvantage, with flexible arrangements in relation to exam formats, marking and re-sits. At the same time, HEIs are ensuring that the assessment methods being used will satisfy the requirements of professional/accrediting bodies and external examiners, so that the integrity of the assessment process will not be compromised, thus maintaining confidence and transparency in the quality of the qualification.