Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he is taking to ensure that international students left stranded as a result of the recent closure of a number of international language schools can continue their education and be recompensed for the cost of discontinued courses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23470/14]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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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.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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As the Minister of State knows, five private language schools have closed in the past month. Anyone who has met or listened to interviews with the students affected by the closure of those language schools will be in no doubt as to the distress faced by many very genuine language students. There were abuses in a number of cases but the reality is that many students who came to this country, specifically to be educated and to learn English, find themselves stranded as a result of these five colleges closing. There are serious questions in regard to how that can happen. I have no doubt the Minister of State is aware of the impact that could have on our international reputation and of the importance of getting to grips with this quickly and ensuring it cannot happen again.

Many of the students who have been left stranded are in financial difficulty because they paid money for those courses. What can be done to recompense those students so that they can continue a course? The Irish Council for International Students suggested the establishment of a pop-up English language school to try to ensure those students can continue to learn English and pursue their education.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I have great sympathy for those young people. For the majority of them, it is an alien environment. They have been left high and dry without any support or hope that they may be able to pursue the education they wish to pursue in this country.

This task force has all the participants one would require on such a task force to be able to address this issue and it was established with lightening speed by the Minister. It will issue an interim report this Friday but, in the meantime, it is working hard to ensure the students have their visas extended so they are not forced to leave the country and retain the right to work to support themselves while they await an outcome. We have been trying to accommodate those students in other English language schools which operate to far higher standards. It is important to point out that the colleges which closed were private businesses and they were not backed by the State financially or in terms of other learner protection. The Deputy is quite right that we need to be very concerned about how this impacts on Ireland's image abroad as a destination for international education. Ireland earns just under €1 billion per annum from international education and it is one of our most significant exports.

We have been working very closely with the education in Ireland unit in Enterprise Ireland, the QQI and my officials to provide for this quality mark, which is provided for in the legislation underpinning QQI. With the establishment of the quality mark it will not be possible for any institution to market itself abroad under the education in Ireland brand without having that quality mark assigned to it. It will be a mark parents, students, academics and teachers internationally can trust. If an institution operates under that mark, it will be operating to an exceptionally high standard where one can trust the content and quality of the education being delivered.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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What sort of timeframe is the Minister of State putting on the introduction of that quality mark? We cannot have a situation where there is a question mark over existing colleges. Does the Minister of State believe there is a threat to any other colleges or a danger of other colleges closing down? What steps is the Minister taking to stand over the services currently being provided for students coming to this country?

The most urgent aspect relates to those students currently in distress and stranded. It is more than five weeks since some of those colleges closed down. I know the task force is in place but many students have been left in a very difficult situation. Urgent action is critical. The least we can do is to provide for their needs.

The Minister of State might also give his view on how this came to pass that we can have allowed this situation arise and so many students end up in big trouble as a result.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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It is not alone an issue for Ireland. It is an issue across the world where private institutions, primarily English language schools, set up purporting to offer a high standard of education when, in fact, upon scrutiny they offer a poor standard and few supports for students who find themselves in that difficult situation.

The quality mark will be put in place by the end of this year. Education in Ireland has been working exceptionally hard over the past three years, and travelling abroad. Indeed, I have travelled abroad with them on a number of occasions with the third level institutions, colleges, universities and institutes of technology. Every time we travel abroad, we stress repeatedly the exceptionally high quality of the education being provided by the vast majority of institutions in this country.

At the end of this year, we will have a quality mark that we can stand over and under which an institution will have that credibility and build for itself a strong reputation for the provision of exceptionally high quality education. We will work to ensure that any young person who is contemplating coming to study in this country must protect himself or herself by ensuring he or she does not subscribe or attend an institution or college that does not have that quality mark. I am confident we will be able to build that brand internationally so every educational support and opportunity that is offered to young people entering this country will be of that exceptionally high standard and that over time those who cannot operate to those high standards will simply be pushed out of business.