Mr. William Beausang:

Good afternoon. I am grateful to the Chair and the joint committee for the invitation to discuss the QQI Bill. As has been mentioned, the main purpose of the Bill is to further empower QQI as the regulator of the framework of qualifications and to strengthen the agency's role in ensuring high standards across Ireland's education system as a whole. It is important legislation for the Department and the Minister because it will enable QQI to realise the full potential of the 2012 Act and facilitate the introduction of important policies envisaged in that Act relating to the quality of higher education in the State. It will clarify and strengthen existing quality assurance policies and make their operation more efficient.

The main amendments to the primary Act can be summarised as follows, and have already been mentioned by previous witnesses. The Bill gives QQI the explicit authority to list awarding bodies and include their qualifications in the framework. It provides a legal basis for QQI to examine the bona fides and financial capacity of providers, a very important issue when listing those bodies and their qualifications in the framework. It will facilitate information sharing by QQI with other State bodies, strengthen and improve the approval process for quality assurance and, importantly, facilitate the introduction of the international education mark, an important innovation in the internationalisation strategy of education in Ireland. It will provide a national scheme for the protection of enrolled learners, which will play an important role in protecting their interests. As Dr. Maguire already mentioned, it provides the power to prosecute essay mills and other forms of academic cheating.

During the passage of the Bill through the Seanad, several Senators raised concerns about employment practices in the English language education sector and the scope for reputational damage to the education sector from the closure of English language schools, as has happened in a number of instances.

The Bill contains measures that will strengthen QQI's role as the regulator in this sector, in particular through the introduction of the international education mark, IEM. To obtain the IEM, providers must first undergo corporate fitness assessments, which will examine their financial resources, corporate viability and so on. Providers must then demonstrate compliance with robust quality standards that will be established by QQI under the code of practice. In addition, during the passage of the Bill through the Seanad the Minister introduced amendments to ensure that providers that hold the mark are in compliance with employment law and that the mark will be withdrawn where non-compliance is found.

In response to the Seanad debate, the Minister appointed Patrick King as a mediator to work with employer and employee representatives to seek to arrive at an agreement on employment standards in the sector. The Minister is seeking to promote a quality English language training sector, and it is important that that is underpinned by appropriate employment standards.

The Minister is anxious to ensure continuing engagement in the mediation process, with the aim of reaching an agreement that will benefit the sector in the short and longer term.