Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Interim List of Eligible Programmes (ILEP) was introduced as part of a series of reforms to the student immigration system for international education in line with the Government decision of 19 May 2015. These reforms have been designed to

- tackle abuse of the immigration regime,

- tackle abuse of the labour market,

- improve the overall quality of offering to international students,

- improve protection for learners,

- safeguard the strong international reputation of high-quality Irish education providers in line with the goals of Ireland’s international education strategy.

As part of these reforms all English language education providers wishing to recruit non-EU/EEA students are required to be listed on the ILEP and must meet with its relevant criteria.

The ILEP criteria requires that each English language education provider have attendance, punctuality, absenteeism and expulsion policies in place with detailed procedures for their implementation. Under the criteria, students arriving more than 15 minutes late or leaving before a class has concluded are to be marked as absent for that class or class segment. Providers must clearly communicate their policies to their students alongside the steps that will be followed should issues be encountered and persist. These steps must be progressive with the student receiving a number of warnings, with the opportunity to respond and to improve attendance before matters could potentially escalate further and up to the point of expulsion. In all such cases, providers are also required to ensure that students have recourse to a form of appeal or review.

There is no requirement nor regulation in place for the use of biometric systems by providers in order to meet the criteria set out under the ILEP.

Further information on the ILEP including the Government decision leading to its establishment is available here - .

Further details on the attendance requirements for eligibility for inclusion of an English Language Programme in the Interim List can be found here – .