English language schools will face a stricter regulatory regime and a range of fees for providers as part of a Government effort to crack down on “rogue” operators.
Minister for Higher and Further Education Patrick O’Donovan is to brief Cabinet this week on plans for schools to be asked to pay up to €10,000 to receive a new quality mark for the international education sector, including English language schools.
Obtaining the mark will also involve providers submitting to a close inspection of the courses they offer, and detailing their financial and corporate structure.
There will also be annual fees and contributions mandated to a “learner protection fund” to provide for students if schools fail, as has happened in several high-profile instances in the past.
While the new regime will not be mandatory, the Government is aiming to improve standards in the sector with the introduction from September of an International Education Mark (IEM) operated under a new “TrustEd” brand for international education providers who submit to the new arrangements.
A new due diligence process for examining the capacity and capability of education providers and the learner protection fund will be put on a statutory basis.
A new statutory quality mark was floated by former minister for higher education Simon Harris last year, with moves to underpin the sector with stronger regulation in gestation for several years. Fees and charges are likely to be tiered to reflect the size and scale of providers applying for the mark, with the fee for the due diligence process to be capped at €10,000.
There will be exemptions for community and voluntary providers and reduced or waived fees will be possible in some instances. Annual fees are expected to come in at between €2,000 and €20,000.
The interventions come amid long-standing frustrations within the Government at the quality of service offered by some operators in the industry. “We cannot have a situation where people say they’re providing a quality service and charge learners a load of money, but then are providing a substandard service,” said a Coalition source.
“Unfortunately there are a few people operating in this space who take advantage of foreign nationals and charge them substantial fees, people from Bangladesh, Pakistan or India dealing with unprofessional or opportunistic providers,” the source added, saying formalising standards and giving recognition and verification to operators under the regime would give additional protections to students.
Laura Harmon, executive director of the Irish Council for International Students, said she welcomed measures “to regulate the English language sector” adding it was “vital that rogue operators are clamped down upon”. She said school closures had left many students “out of pocket and put Ireland’s reputation as a study destination at risk”.
She said her members had been calling for the introduction of the International Education Mark for more than a decade. “There must be a robust external monitoring, inspection and enforcement system to oversee the implementation of the IEM,” she added.
The new industry standard will replace an interim list of eligible programmes currently operated and become the main tool for oversight of the student immigration system. It will be administered by Quality and Qualifications Ireland, the State agency charged with overseeing the quality and reputation of the further and higher education system.
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