Higher Education and Training Awards Council

The Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC), the legal successor to the National Council for Educational Awards (NCEA), granted higher education awards in Ireland beyond the university system from 2001 to 2012. HETAC was created in 2001, subject to the policies of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, and, specifically, granted qualifications at many Institutes of Technology and other colleges. HETAC was dissolved and its functions were passed to Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) on 6 November 2012. History NCEA In 1967 the Steering Committee on Technical Education recommended the creation of a body to control non-university higher qualifications, and in 1969 the Higher Education Authority similarly recommended the establishment of a "Council for National Awards" to better organise the non-university higher education sector; the HEA recommendations were tentative, to be refined after application to the work of the newly-established National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick. Following these recommendations, the National Council for Educational Awards (NCEA) was founded in April 1972 on an ad-hoc basis. The Minister for Education, Padraig Faulkner, specified its terms of reference, including the promotion and coordination of industrial, professional, commercial and scientific education, and the conferring of certificates, diplomas and degrees. The NCEA granted the first National Certificates, 93 in number, in 1972; these were awarded at five Regional Technical Colleges. The NCEA granted its first bachelor degrees, to four students in Physical Education, in 1974.