In December 2003, the Chief Executives of the Irish Universities Quality Board and the Higher Education Authority informed the Chief Officers of the 7 Irish Universities that the first external review of Quality Assurance Procedures in Irish Universities would commence in January 2004.

The review is being jointly commissioned by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Irish Universities Quality Board (IUQB)

The combined review arrangement will allow the university sector and its stakeholders to gain maximum benefit from comprehensive evaluations by international experts under the auspices of the European University Association (EUA), complemented by a high-level reference panel established by the HEA, which will be representative of stakeholders external to the universities. The overall objective is that quality assurance procedures and practices in place in Irish universities, and their effectiveness will be reviewed against best practice internationally.

• Document agreed between the HEA and the IUQB setting out the context and overall approach to the review
• Guidelines for the institutional self-assessment (as a pdf file)
• Steering committee established to prepare the self-evaluation report. The committee is representative of all the major constituencies in the the university (academic and administrative staff and students) so as to maximise involvement of all major stakeholders
• Minutes of meetings of the Steering Committee
• Issues Groups convened as part of the Consultation Process
• Experts panel membership. This provides details on the foreign experts who will visit DCU:
• for the preliminary two-day visit on 26-27 April 2004
• the main three-day visit on 4-6 October 2004
• The final self-evaluation report and appendices are available (internal only)
• The published EUA Review Report on DCU and the DCU Response and Action Plan are available