Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 July 2007
404 Deputy Jack Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science the colleges that offer an English course that is acceptable for a student visa under the guidelines of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform; the length of time this course should be; the English qualification the person should have when this course is finished; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18537/07]
View answerMy Department operates an Internationalisation Register which lists the programmes approved for the purpose of access to employment by students who are citizens from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland. This is published on my Department's website (www.education.ie) along with an Information Note setting out the criteria for inclusion on the Register. Programmes are required to be of a minimum duration of 15 hours per week and at least 25 weeks duration. In the English language sector, programmes which meet these duration criteria, are recognised under the quality assurance and inspection scheme of the Advisory Council of English Language Schools (ACELS), and which lead to recognised English language proficiency tests, are eligible for inclusion on the Register. The language proficiency tests which are recognised for this purpose are listed in the Information Note.
For courses other than language courses, the programmes are required to meet the minimum duration criteria, and lead to an award which is validated by FETAC, HETAC, DIT or a recognised university, or by a professional body with a function in Irish law, or by a national awarding body from another country which has a status in law or is otherwise recognised as having authority to make awards which have national recognition in their host jurisdiction. Programmes published as full time programmes of an least one year's duration leading to HETAC, FETAC, DIT or university awards are deemed to meet the duration criteria.
The Department of Education and Science does not stipulate specific language proficiency levels which should be reached on completion of a programme as students enter Ireland to study for a variety of reasons, e.g to learn English ab initio, to learn English in order to access a third level programme, or to English in order to prepare for a specific employment. In general, third level colleges, which determine their own admission criteria, generally require a minimum proficiency score of 4.5, 5.0 and 6.0 respectively on the International English Language Testing System or equivalent for entry to higher education programmes leading to awards at Level 6, 7 and 8 or higher in the national framework of qualifications.
It is intended that the criteria for inclusion of programmes on the Register will be further strengthened, after consultation with stakeholders, when Education Ireland is established. Education Ireland will promote and market Ireland as a quality venue for international education, will develop and ensure compliance with quality standards and a code of practice for pastoral care of students, and will subsume the functions of the Advisory Council for English Language Schools and responsibility for the Internationalisation Register.
In exceptional cases, where difficulties have occurred, the Department reserves to right to impose specific additional conditions on a provider. In such cases, this can include a requirement that admission to a specific programme should be confined to students who reach a minimum language proficiency level prior to entry. This has been done where the programme in question is targeted to meet a specific objective, such as access to a particular employment, and is designed to ensure that students have a reasonable opportunity to complete the programme successfully and meet their objectives within the timeframe of the programme.
