An approved institution is defined to mean a university, university college or other institution of higher education in so far as it provides a course or courses of not less than two years duration, being a course or courses which the Minister for Education and Science approves for the time being for the purposes of the Acts.
The annual higher education grants scheme which I approve sets out a list of approved institutions for the purposes of the scheme. The approved institutions mainly comprise the publicly funded third level institutions. However, there are a number of religious and other institutions that have been admitted to the scheme over the years.
In determining whether an institution is to be recognised for the purposes of the scheme my Department has regard to whether the institution and its courses satisfy minimum standards in relation to the delivery of third level courses and the overall availability of resources. In this regard my priority is to increase the number of places available in publicly funded colleges. This priority was delivered on this year and will be again in the next academic year.
It is open to any institution to seek information, held on record by the Department of Education and Science in relation to it, under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997.
