The Future Direction of Institutes of Higher Education in Ireland and Their Pathway of Transformation: A Case Study of the Dublin Institute of Technology's "Operation Transformation" as a Leading Example of an Institute of the Future

This paper is an outline proposal for an EdD thesis with the University of Sheffield which has been accepted. The principle aim of this research is to investigate what might an institute of education be in the future through viewing the current changes afoot in the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and the underlying reasons for these changes to take place. It is not proposed that DIT is the ideal example but it is one example of Irish higher education (HE) in transition to be more students focused and flexible for future demands. The HE system in Ireland is broad in scope and encompasses the university sector, the technological sector, the colleges of education and private, independent colleges. Ireland is a society undergoing major change economically, but also demographically through recent migration and mobility of workers from all over Europe and beyond. In an economy as open as Ireland’s it is vital that higher education operate to a maximum effectiveness responding to changing societal needs. The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has recommended that Institutions need to compete globally and changes are being implemented to effect these recommendations. Such changes are already transpiring within the DIT as it has already undergone some operational structural changes which have seen the old Faculties of Tourism and Food and Faculty of Applied Arts merging to form one College of Arts and Tourism.