Wikipedia
Higher Certificate
The Higher Certificate (Ardteastas in Irish) is an award that has replaced the National Certificate in Ireland The Higher Certificate is awarded by various Institutes of Technology. A Higher Certificate academic programme is 2 years of full-time study.
The equivalent British award is a Certificate of Higher Education (Cert.HE) Both the Irish Higher Certificate and the British Certificate of Higher Education are Level 6 awards on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications.
Usage examples of "higher certificate".
Besides his duties at Oxford, Tolkien often acted as an external examiner for other universities, and marked Higher Certificate papers, as he was in need of the extra income.