Vol. 474 No. 4
123 Mr. E. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Education if she will upgrade Cork Regional Technical College in view of the necessity to the region of having this college upgraded; and if her attention has been drawn to the anger and frustrations being felt by students, staff and management of the college and industries in the area. [3305/97]
Following recent discussions with the various interested parties, including regional technical college Cork, on the need for a process to facilitate the growth and evolution of the colleges in the regional technical college sector, I have announced the establishment of a high level group to advise on the criteria which would be applied to the redesignation of a Regional Technical College as an Institute of Technology, including the devolution of responsibility to colleges within the technological sector in relation to the award of qualifications, at various levels, within a national certification framework and the most appropriate means whereby institutions would be independently evaluated in relation to such criteria.
