Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 January 2016
328. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills to specify why English language schools with no external quality assurance system were allowed to be part of the interim list of education programmes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3750/16]
View answer329. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills how allowing English language schools to have an unspecified quality assurance system or external validation furthers the stated Government policy of Ireland becoming a quality destination of choice for international students; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3751/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 328 and 329 together.
As the Deputy may be aware, the first full iteration of the ILEP (the Interim List of Eligible Programmes - the list of education programmes considered to justify the granting of permission to students to live and work in Ireland) was published by the Department of Justice and Equality on 20th January 2016.
In order to be listed on the ILEP, all English language providers have to comply with new requirements including full disclosure of ownership, and to demonstrate that they have reached an acceptable standard.
All English language providers who submitted an application for inclusion on the ILEP were assessed against a number of criteria including attendance rates, compulsory exam registration policies, maximum class size, curriculum content and teacher qualifications. A listing on the ILEP also requires providers to have mandatory protection for enrolled learner policies in place and to operate a separate account facility to safeguard student advance payments. A number of providers were also subject to an on-site inspection by inspection teams comprised of INIS (Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service) officials and education experts as part of the ILEP application process.
For all providers their listing on the ILEP is contingent on their ongoing compliance with immigration rules and continuing to meet the other conditions required. Providers will continue to be subject to unannounced inspections, spot checks and other monitoring of compliance. The implementation of these reforms will help to improve the overall quality of Ireland's offering to international students, promote protection for learners and enhance Ireland's reputation, strongly in line with the goals of Ireland's international education strategy.
