Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 November 2014
487. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to more than 50 students in India, Nepal, Vietnam, Pakistan and the Philippines who are owed tens of thousands of euro in fee refunds by a college (details supplied) operating in Dublin; her plans to clamp down on private colleges exploiting international students. [44337/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am aware of the allegations concerning the private college to which the Deputy refers. The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service is pursuing these allegations with the stated owners of the college. The Department of Justice and Equality requires all colleges seeking to deliver programmes to non-EEA national students to abide by the conditions as laid down by the immigration authorities including the requirements to provide timely refunds as set out in the published guidelines for colleges.
On 2nd September last I announced robust regulatory reforms of the international education sector jointly with the Minister for Justice and Equality. The purpose of those reforms is to protect the educational and consumer interests of genuine international students, to tackle abuse of the labour market and the immigration regime and to safeguard the strong international reputation of high-quality Irish education providers.
Those reforms have three main pillars – (i) a new list of eligible programmes, (ii) an enhanced inspection and compliance regime and (iii) changes to the operation of the work concession. It is expected that these reforms will significantly enhance the overall quality of Ireland's international education offering, reduce the risk to our reputation from the activities of lower quality operators and enhance the net benefits of internationalisation to the labour market and wider economy.
