The Higher Education Authority has warned that decisions will have to be made very soon regarding the future funding of third-level education in Ireland.
The authority revealed today that it is developing proposals for funding that it hopes to present to the Minister for Education at the end of the summer.
In relation to an increase in third-level fees, HEA Chief Executive Tom Boland warned that population growth will lead to a surge in demand for college places and there was "no way" the Exchequer alone could support this.
Mr Boland said the HEA was likely to propose a range of funding options to the minister.
He said Ruairi Quinn was aware that the HEA was considering the matter and that the minister welcomed and supported its work.
The HEA has also announced that it is to conduct a review of third-level creative arts programmes in the capital with a view to looking at "synergies".
The review will examine courses in colleges, including the National College of Art and Design, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Ballyfermot College, and the Lir centre in Trinity.
Mr Boland said there was too much duplication at present.
He said in a very constrained funding environment, combining all that was happening into a coherent whole could make the sum greater than its parts.
That review is expected to be completed in September.
Mr Boland also warned that rigid and inflexible work practices at third-level were a stumbling block to reform.
Briefing journalists on HEA plans, he said it was working to develop proposals around the kind of work practices that were desirable.
He said the HEA was going through a very intense process of review of the system and it hoped to have a blueprint for reform in place by the end of the year.
The recent boom in births in Ireland is currently putting pressure on the primary and second-level education systems.
The HEA says it expects that boom to begin to feed in to third-level in three or four years’ time. It expects applications to grow by up to 30% over the next 15 years as a result.
