2. (1) In this Act—

“Act of 1971” means the National College of Art and Design Act 1971;

“Act of 1992” means the Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992;

“Act of 1997” means the Universities Act 1997;

“Act of 2011” means the Student Support Act 2011;

“Act of 2012” means the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012;

“Act of 2018” means the Technological Universities Act 2018;

“An tSeirbhís” means An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna;

“An tÚdarás” means An tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas established by the Higher Education Authority Act 1971 and continued in being by section 7;

“appeals board” has the meaning assigned to it by section 69(1);

“Board” means the Board of An tÚdarás;

“bodies seeking funding” has the meaning assigned to it by section 37(1);

“Chief Executive Officer”, in relation to An tÚdarás, has the meaning assigned to it by section 25;

“Data Protection Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016¹ on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation);

“designated institution of higher education” has the meaning assigned to it by section 53(1);

“designation order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 54(1);

“education and training board” has the meaning assigned to it by the Education and Training Boards Act 2013;

“funded body” has the meaning assigned to it by section 37(1);

“funding framework” has the meaning assigned to it by section 37(2);

“Gaeltacht Language Planning Area” has the meaning it has in Part 2 of the Gaeltacht Act 2012;

“Gaeltacht Service Town” has the meaning it has in Part 2 of the Gaeltacht Act 2012;

“governing body”, in relation to a designated institution of higher education or a funded body, means the governing body, authority or board (by whatever name called) that manages and controls the designated institution of higher education or funded body, as the case may be;

“higher education provider” means a person or institution which provides at least one programme of education and training leading to the award of a degree or other qualification which is at least at bachelor degree level and is included within the National Framework of Qualifications;

“information” includes data;

“Irish Language Network” has the meaning it has in Part 2 of the Gaeltacht Act 2012;

“Minister” means the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science;

“non-personal data” means data other than personal data;

“personal data” has the meaning it has in the Data Protection Regulation;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under section 3;

“priority groups”, in relation to students in higher education or, as may be appropriate, persons who are seeking to become students in higher education, includes persons who are economically or socially disadvantaged, persons who have a disability or persons from sections of society that are under-represented in the student body in higher education;

“processing”, in relation to personal data, has the meaning it has in the Data Protection Regulation;

“representatives of students” shall include officers of a national student union in their capacity as such officers;

“research” means creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge (including knowledge of humankind, culture and society) and to devise new applications of available knowledge;

“revocation order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 59(1);

“special categories of personal data” has the meaning it has in the Data Protection Act 2018;

“student” means a person registered as a student by a higher education provider with that provider;

“student union” means a student union or other student representative body recognised by a higher education provider or by the Minister;

“tertiary education” means further education and training and higher education and research.

(2) In this Act, references to higher education shall include references to research undertaken in the higher education system.

(3) In this Act, references to environmental development and sustainability shall be construed as references to development and actions that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, including actions in respect of social, economic, cultural and environmental development, climate and biodiversity.