Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister for Justice and Equality have established a task force to urgently examine the issues raised by the closure of a number of private colleges. The task force is chaired by the two Departments and includes representatives from QQI, Enterprise Ireland and City of Dublin Education and Training Board as well as representatives of the private high-quality higher education and English language sectors and the Irish Council for International Students.

This group is charged with assessing the scale of the issue and, in particular, the number of genuine students who have not yet been accommodated. It will also determine what capacity is available in the sector to make accommodation for students and will oversee a system that seeks to make such accommodation.

The co-chairs of the task force have been asked to make an interim report by this Friday. For the sake of the students involved, it is important to be clear that their immigration permissions have been extended by the Department of Justice and Equality to allow them to continue to work to support themselves and to allow them space to make alternative arrangements.

The Government is also introducing a robust quality framework to ensure that only the highest quality providers can attract students from outside the EEA to Ireland. At the heart of this will be the international education mark, provided for in the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 and which will be awarded by Quality and Qualifications Ireland. This mark will be introduced from the end of this year.

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