Higher Education Authority: Ireland

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) is the statutory body responsible for coordination of, planning, and financing the higher education system in Ireland. Since its establishment in 1971, the HEA has overseen significant changes in both the scale and the shape of Irish higher education acting under the auspices of different government policy priorities and in widely varying economic conditions. Acting as a buffer between government—avoiding direct intervention by politicians—and individual universities and other [Page 687]higher education institutions—highly protective of their independence—inevitably involves a delicate balancing act.

The development of contemporary higher education in Ireland is inextricably linked to the evolution of the Irish nation-state. Over a century and a half after Cardinal John Henry Newman advanced his influential ideas on university education (Dublin, 1852), the contemporary ...