The establishment of a new Tertiary Education Authority (TEA) and new structures for research and innovation are the key recommendations of the OECD report on third-level to be published this week.
The 80-page report, obtained by The Irish Times, also proposes a possible student loan scheme.
In proposing the return of college fees, it says a new student loan scheme could be "financed through the private sector" but supported by an interest rate subsidy from the Government. It also suggests a "graduate contribution scheme" based on the Australian "study now, pay later system".
The report also says Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), which funds research projects, should be "confirmed as the national agency for the funding of basic research and publicly funded R&D in higher education".
The OECD report, the most comprehensive review in a generation, says the universities and the institutes of technology (IOTs) should be brought together under the new authority which would replace the Higher Education Authority (HEA).
But the IOTs, it says, should be given much more freedom and flexibility to run their own programmes.
Other main recommendations include:
* Degree awarding powers for doctoral awards should be concentrated in the universities and in DIT.
It states that where such powers have been granted to the IOTs by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, they should be rescinded.
* Third-level colleges should aim to double their number of foreign students within five years.
* Colleges should be given more flexibility to recruit the best. Colleges, it says, should be given the freedom to take special steps to attract or recruit people "with key skills or experience".
On research, the OECD wants a new National Council for Tertiary Education Research and Innovation, chaired by the Taoiseach, which would "bring together all the relevant Government Departments" with an interest or an involvement in third-level education "to determine a rolling national strategy for third-level education and its relation to innovation, skilled labour force and the economy".
It also wants a committee for research policy established which would report to the Cabinet.
The review is critical of "mission drift" and the lack of an overall strategic direction in higher education. It wants the colleges to be funded annually by the new authority on the basis of a strategic plan approved by the new authority.
The review wants the differing missions of the universities and the IOTs to be preserved. It sees no case for the establishment of another university in the Republic at this time.
The OECD also wants to see funding for third-level placed on a more secure footing. It says the issue of multi-year funding needs to be addressed. Colleges should also be told that they will not be denied any State funding if they secure funding from the private sector or other sources.
On access, it says the National Office for Equity Access to Higher Education should be "tasked with" following up the recommendations of the 1999 Commission on the CAO points system.
It says the new authority should factor-in the high cost of attracting and retaining students from poorer backgrounds when deciding on college funding.
The report will be presented to the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, in Dublin on Thursday.
