The Higher Education Authority (HEA) - official name: An tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas from Irish - is the authority in Ireland with responsibility for higher education since 1968 and placed on a statutory basis in 1971. The authority supports HEAnet, part of the GEANT network.
The authority has advisory and funding functions, with the former applying to all institutions and the latter applying mainly to the university sector only, this is currently (2004) under review. The authority has presented many strategic reports since its foundation, a recent report was conducting into reforming medical training in Ireland; this proposed system should lead to the creation of a two route entry into medicine which will include entry via a bachelor's degree and aptitude test, in addition to the current "points race" system.
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