The standard of third-level courses came under scrutiny at a conference on academic quality assurance in higher education, held in Dublin last week.

The conference, organised by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), focused on developments in assessing the standard of courses offered in Irish universities and institutes of technology.

USI called on third-level colleges to publish information relating to the standards of their courses, citing a European Union recommendation on the matter which was made in 1998.

"All Irish third-level institutions should implement this recommendation," said Julian de Spainn, USI president. He praised the work already done by Tallaght IT, which, he said, had "led the way" in quality assurance by publishing its Institutional Review Report on its website.

James Gosling, director of quality at NUI Galway, told delegates that quality assurance was top of the agenda. "NUI Galway will develop and implement a total quality culture and systems to assure and control the quality of its services and programmes." Other speakers at the conference included Ton Vroeijenstijn of the international network of quality assurance agencies in higher education and Nick Harris from the UK Quality Assurance Authority.