Dr. Noel O'Connor:

It is probably a unique partnership because it is not something that we do in-house, although we have a very fine school of languages, but the IELTS element is essentially a level 5 in terms of the overall qualifications framework. Using academic staff within the institute to deliver such programmes would not be the most cost-effective way of delivering them. What has worked to date has been a very strong partnership with the third party. The staff in question are located on site as a part of the team. What has happened is that the company that has been providing the service to date has been bought out, and we are looking at the implications of that ourselves.