`The Bill has the potential to become a very good piece of legislation," comments Dr Brendan Goldsmith, director of DIT, about the Qualifications (Education and Training) Bill. "But it needs some amending."

Goldsmith would prefer, he says, to see quality assurance achieved through consultation rather than by directive. He is concerned, too, about the possible emergence of a two-tier university system in the future.

Nonetheless, "a system which included two types of university would be livable with," he notes. "We don't want to be a traditional university, but we would like the autonomy that universities have." The notion of parity of esteem in the binary system is a myth, he argues. The IT sector receives its funding from the Department: "We can't make staff appointments or purchase land without the permission of the Minister."

Discussions between the Department of Education and Science and the HEA on the transfer of funding and regulatory powers for the IT sector from the former to the latter are about to begin. But Goldsmith says changes in legislation would be required before ITs could have responsibility for their own spending.

The HEA, in its report on the DIT's application for university status, notes that the provisions of the Universities Act 1997 "differ significantly from those of the DIT and RTC Acts 1992, in relation to issues such as financial control and staffing". This statement (Section 3.10), he says, contradicts the HEA's assertion (4.7) that "many of the essential preconditions for a real parity of esteem are already in place - or are being put in place".