Widening access will inevitably mean opening courses to students with poorer qualifications and less expectation of higher education - those most at risk of failure.

BBC: Plan to launch new degrees

The Scottish Government has highlighted its creation of an extra 2, 000 places for Scots students from poorer backgrounds and record numbers of students acquiring higher education qualifications.

BBC: Increase in number of EU students at Scots universities

The CSCSE has published procedures and criteria for the assessment of overseas higher education qualifications on its website.

UNESCO: ����

It reflects the contemporary intellectual preference in higher education for integrating the theory and practice of a discipline, and for reducing the divisions between vocational and academic qualifications.

ECONOMIST: Education: Degrees of choice | The

Mr O'Dowd said he believed the changes he had announced would ensure that Northern Ireland's A-level qualifications remain "equitable, robust and portable" and "credible in the eyes" of higher education institutions and employers.

BBC: John O'Dowd makes changes to A-level exam re-sits