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As the Irish National Standards body, NSAI would like to ensure that exposure to standards and standardization happens at an early stage, i.e. at the educational stage, rather than upon entering the workforce, so that individuals have the knowledge, skill and competence to search for, identify and use those standards which are applicable to them in their areas of study and when they reach the workforce.

To this end the NSAI have embarked on a National programme of free guest lectures aimed at 3rd level staff and students around the country to advise them on how to search for and identify standards, and the breadth of standards which apply in their respective fields. NSAI are committed to supporting the 3rd level institutes and libraries by providing access to the National Standards Database, at a very competitive price, in order to support the raising of awareness among students in relation to standards and standardization.

More Information

Do you want to know more about standards and standardization?
Download your free copy of “A World Built on Standards” and its supporting training material 'Multiple Choice Tasks'.

Whether you are a student, researcher or lecturer understanding standards and standardisation is essential. This knowledge can be an important asset in teaching and learning, but is far more important in the workplace for future careers as managers, engineers, scientists or any other profession chosen.

In order to support European education about standards, the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), Danish Standards, the British Standards Institution, the Finnish Standards Association and the University of Zagreb have, with support from the European Standards organisations CEN and CENELEC, developed free educational material for higher education.

The textbook guides you through a world built on standards. You will be introduced to topics such as:

  • What is a standard?
  • What are the benefits of standards?
  • Who develops standards?
  • How do I read a standard?
  • What is CE-marking?
  • How do standards relate to regulation?
  • Can standards support innovation? 

A World Built on Standards is supported by multiple choice questions, Power Point presentations and case studies of how others have taught standards and standardization. After each chapter in the textbook, questions that can be used as discussion points on matters related to the chapter are provided. This publication and all supporting material is free to distribute, but not for commercial use. 

Guest Lectures

To avail of free guest lectures on Standards and Standardisation from the NSAI or if you have any questions, comments or suggestions for this material, please contact Kieran Cox at (01) 807 3875 or kieran.cox@nsai.ie

With the support of the European Commission and the EFTA Secretariat, ETSI have developed a comprehensive textbook “Understanding ICT Standardization: Principles and Practice”, together with an extensive set of over 380 slides to be used as teaching aides.  While they are targeted primarily at students of third-level engineering or scientific subjects, the materials are modular in structure, and some modules may be of relevance to students of business, management, innovation and legal subjects.

Topics covered include:

  • Standardization basics,
  • The standards ecosystem,
  • The production of standards,
  • Standardization and innovation,
  • Standardization and strategy,
  • A business perspective: Standardization and intellectual property rights (IPR),
  • The economic benefits of standards.

The textbook and material can be found online under the following heading EDUCATION ABOUT STANDARDIZATION

The i2i Platform has been designed to enable 3rd level librarians, lecturers and students access accurate up to date full-text collections of Irish (I.S.), European (EN) and International (ISO) Standards.

The i2i Platform can deliver important worldwide Standards and Technical information from over 300 global publishers such as the NSAI, ISO, ASTM and ASME. The service is scalable and provides the ability to add further full-text collections of worldwide publishers; enabling librarians, lecturers and students, to view and manage on-line important national and international full-text Standards.

Benefits are:

  • Full access to all Irish (I.S.), European (EN) and International (ISO) Standards
  • Access to these documents through the i2i system across multiple web-based devices anywhere and at anytime
  • Secure password protection and document control
  • View full-text documents instantly through the on-line viewer without having to wait for lengthy downloads
  • Add relevant content directly to pages of the document
  • Bookmark individual PDF pages allowing quick and easy reference
  • Search within the full-text document

The NSAI along with CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, the three European Standards Organisations, are committed to promote and support education about standardization.

The NSAI provide free guest lectures on Standards and Standardisation to lecturers and their students ensuring first hand access to the experience and knowledge in the National Standards Authority of Ireland. Having access to the National Standards Database hosted on the i2i platform ensures up to date Standards are available to lecturers for teaching purposes and to students who need access to these Standards for coursework and project purposes.

The following have access to the National Standards Database through their library services and have benefited from free NSAI guest lectures:

  • Atlantic Technological University (Galway)
  • Atlantic Technological University (Sligo)
  • Dublin City University
  • Dundalk Institute of Technology
  • Institute of Technology Carlow
  • Munster Technological University
  • National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG)
  • South East Technological University (SETU) 
  • Technological University Dublin (TUD)
  • Technological University of the Shannon
  • Trinity College Dublin
  • University College Cork
  • University College Dublin
  • University of Limerick
     

Who do I contact in the NSAI regarding online guest lectures or access to the National Standards Database?

If you would like the NSAI to deliver free guest lectures on Standards and Standardization to your students or staff, or would like to discuss having access to the National Standards Database, please contact: Eoin McCabe

Education about Standardization (EaS) is teaching pupils, students, CEOs, managers, employees in business, and life-long learners the subject of standards and standardization. The level of education has to be carefully tailored to these target audiences. It may include the use and benefits of standards, the strategic importance of standardization for business and Europe's competitiveness, how to implement standards in businesses and how to participate in standardization to influence the content of future standards.

As stated in the European Standards Organisations’ Policy on education about standardization, the importance of standards and standardization for businesses and society has increased dramatically over the last decade. Standards provide a range of major benefits, including:

  • Facilitating trade in the global market and enabling global market access by removing technical barriers to trade and increasing competitiveness
  • Providing investment confidence for businesses through the certainty achieved by codifying in standards existing knowledge e.g. proven technologies
  • Standardization fosters innovation, which is indispensable for economic growth especially in developed countries through establishment of new technologies in the market and providing interoperability and compatibility between new and existing products, services, processes and systems
  • Being a policy tool which facilitates regulation aimed at developing new markets for products and services as well as the Single European market

Education and awareness of standards and standardization in Europe have not kept pace and this has resulted in a deficit in the understanding of both the use and the development of standards. Other regions of the world, notably Asia, have increased efforts on education about standardization, with resulting benefits. In the medium and long term, the lack of knowledge, skills and scientific research in Europe about standardization will result in a reduction in the competitive abilities of European businesses. Europe and Ireland need to maintain business competitiveness at world–class level and prepare current and future CEOs, managers and workers for the changing needs of the emerging markets.

NSAI regularly deals with people involved in research activities or in the workforce who have little or no knowledge of Standards and Standardisation, yet these people are the users and future authors of Standards. Such people come to NSAI for advice, sometimes at the last minute, after realising a standard may apply to their professional activities. In order to support your activities and ensure you have access to relevant information, the NSAI Standards Education and Promotion Team are available to discuss where Standards may be of benefit to you and your activities. We can show you how to identify the Standards you need to reference and deliver introductory talks to you and your staff.

Do you want to learn about standardization in a quick and easy way?

Through short animations and explanatory texts, you will learn about the benefits of using standards and of participating in standardization.

This eLearning tool for SMEs consists of 6 modules with individual subjects. Each module begins with a review of the learning targets, followed by an animation that explains the subject based on a concrete situation. After the animation, you can read more about the subject and finally test your knowledge. If you so wish, you can print a Certificate of Achievement.

The eLearning tool is available in 23 languages.
Just make a selection to your language and read more about:

  • What are standards and what does it mean for your company?
  • By whom and how are standards developed?
  • Why should you use standards?
  • What can you gain from participation in the development of standards?
  • How do you find a specific standard and how could it be applied?
  • How could you influence the content of a standard?

An extra module provides case studies about the benefits of participation in standardization and the use of standards.