State targets operation of English schools

The Government will today outline measures to prevent abuse of the student immigration regime which was highlighted by the abrupt closure of several English language colleges this year.

Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald will jointly launch a major reform of student immigration and the international student sector.

The reforms will deal with a number of major problems and anomalies that arose in a small number of colleges which catered for foreign students who had obtained visas to attend courses – most of which were language-oriented – in Ireland.

Tackle abuse

Speaking ahead of today’s announcement and launch, Ms O’Sullivan said: “It has become clear over recent months that we need to protect international students studying in Ireland, support high-quality education providers, and tackle abuse of the student immigration regime.

“I am confident that the measures that myself and Frances Fitzgerald are announcing will address each of these issues, which were highlighted by the closure of a number of private sector colleges earlier this year.”

The Ministers for Education and Justice will also be publishing the final report of the taskforce established earlier this year to help students affected by college closures, and a new policy statement entitled Regulatory Reform of the International Education Sector and the Student Immigration Regime.

Closure

This action has been taken following the closure of at least six Irish-based colleges offering English courses to foreign students.

The problem arose last April when the Visa and Naturalisation Service of the Department of Justice stopped issuing visas to new non-European Economic Area nationals who wished to enrol in four such colleges in Dublin because of concerns of irregularities and attendance levels at the schools.

Subsequently, six of the private colleges closed down and almost 2,000 students were affected, some of whom had paid thousands of euro in fees to attend courses.

At the time, the then minister for education Ruaírí Quinn said that there was fairly clear evidence to suggest that a minority of schools were in effect acting as a front to give access to the Irish labour market and not providing proper or meaningful courses.

Mr Quinn set up the task force to examine ways in which students adversely affected by the closures could be helped.