Colleges seek bond to protect students

AN ALLIANCE of private colleges offering paid-for courses is working to develop a bond system to protect students and limit their exposure should another provider go out of business.

The colleges, members of the Irish Course Providers Association, are hoping to meet Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn to secure his approval, and that of awarding bodies Fetac and Hetac, for a scheme to protect students and providers should one of its members find themselves unable to deliver a course in full.

Regulations state that a college offering Fetac or Hetac courses, running for three months or more, must secure a guarantee from two registered providers offering the same courses to ensure they will finish the course should the college cease trading.

Association chief executive Harry Walsh said the closure of one college could cost guarantors thousands of euro when covering teaching costs, documentation and examination charges.

“What is being asked of private providers is, effectively, to sign a blank cheque,” Mr Walsh said. “It is completely unworkable for a whole variety of reasons.”

Members of the Irish Course Providers Association would pay a contribution into an account each time they enrolled a student under the proposed scheme so as to indemnify their students should they encounter difficulty. Mr Walsh estimated that about 400 private providers offered Fetac and Hetac courses in areas such as Montessori teaching, secretarial skills, executive management, healthcare and psychology.

A number of training colleges have ceased trading in the last year; the closure of Abbey College on Dame Street, Dublin, last Friday resulted in the loss of about 20 jobs and left 360 enrolled students in limbo.

The Department of Education said that under the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999, students would be refunded or offered courses in other institutions. Fetac is to meet Abbey College management today. The Dublin Business and Language College closed in May and the Co Kilkenny college Empower Training closed last September.