THE Irish Institute of Higher Education (IIHE), a private college in Cork, has returned deposits and fees paid by some 50 applicants for places on diploma and degree courses which it had advertised in teacher training and psychology, among others.
Two directors of the institute told Points Race yesterday they had also ceased discussions with Exeter University in England, which the college brochure had said was validating the institute's degrees from November.
The institute's decision to return deposits followed queries from this column about the status of the courses it was offering. Ms Bernadette Murray, a director of the college, said they felt that, given "misunderstandings" which had arisen with Exeter, the fairest thing was to return the deposits and offer the students the opportunity to reapply for diploma courses validated by the Irish Academic Council, a body which she agrees has no members other than the IIHE itself.
The college began as the Business and Education College in Cork in 1989 and has operated Montessori courses and business courses. Since 1991, Ms Murray said, it had also offered diploma and advanced diploma courses in education and other areas. These diplomas were awarded by the college itself.
"In response to demand", it had decided to provide a teacher training and psychology degree and had engaged in a very extensive investigation of UK universities to "find the best".
Exeter University was very prestigious, "the third most prestigious after Oxford and Cambridge" and fitted "the ethos of our college", according to fellow director Ms Mary Barry Joyce.
They began negotiations with the college and say they were assured over the telephone in August that the validation was agreed for both a teaching and a psychology degree. The brochure therefore advertised an Exeter University degree but added in brackets "expected date of validation November 1996."
Points Race became involved when readers began to phone under the impression that the Cork college was recognised by the Department of Education here and that it would qualify them to teach in national schools in Ireland.
We rang the institute and asked if it was recognised by the Department and were told Yes; we were also told the qualification would enable a graduate to teach in the Irish primary school system. Ms Barry Joyce and Ms Murray, however, are adamant that no such replies were issued that all staff were briefed to explain that the qualification could be recognised "subject to the criteria laid down by the Department of Education."
We checked with the Department of Education. It had not granted any recognition to the college and it had also had calls from students who thought the college had recognition.
We contacted Exeter University to ask if the degrees were validated and received the following statement:
"The University of Exeter has been, and still is, in negotiation with the Business and Education College at Cork in respect of the validation of only two courses. These are a conversion course to a BA in Psychological Studies and a conversion course to a BEd. These negotiations in both instances are still in progress. No validation agreements have yet been signed.
"We have only just heard that the college has entered into a separate amalgamation agreement with another institution. We have had no discussions with the new body and have no knowledge of the academic implications of that amalgamation. We are awaiting further information from Cork on the matter."
The significant point here is that the institute's brochure claims Exeter validation is pending for five degree courses, not two, including management and computing.
Back to the institute in Cork. The directors explained: they had opened discussions with Exeter as the Business and Education College and had merged with their sister Montessori operation over the summer to form the new Irish Institute of Higher Education, and Exeter must have misunderstood this.
But it was pointed out Exeter had said only two degrees were the subject of discussions. The directors are adamant that "Exeter knew at all times" that validation for all their degrees was what was involved.
But Exeter says the two are "conversion degrees". What does that mean?
Ms Barry Joyce explained that students first came on to a diploma course - in education or psychology - which was validated by the Irish Academic Council and then went on to a third year advanced diploma.
The final year was then a conversion course to an Exeter degree. The diplomas and advanced diplomas were awarded by the Irish Academic Council.
Which is? "A new body set up primarily for smaller private colleges which would aim to provide shared library and academic facilities for smaller colleges who did not have the resources to do so themselves." Who else were members? "At the moment just our college." The council had been set up over the summer.
The institute's brochure also claimed membership of the International Association of Academic Institutions. What was this? It was a similar body to the academic council set up through the Internet to provide a support base for small, private colleges. Any members other than themselves? "I cannot honestly say at the moment. I don't know what has come in over the Internet," said Ms Murray.
Ms Barry Joyce and Ms Murray were at pains to explain that they only wanted to serve the best interests of students. "There are 7,000 students applying for teacher training and only 700 get places and those are chosen only on points. But high points do not necessarily make the best teachers. We operated a system of interviews to ascertain their suitability to teaching."
People had a perception of private colleges as only in it for profit, she said, but this was not the case. "At all times we endeavoured to get the proper validation and recognition. We went into this in good faith."
Both directors were experts in education themselves. They had drawn up a detailed programme suited to the Irish education system, including Irish and religion, and submitted this to Exeter. They were not misleading anyone, because under various EU directives persons with teacher training qualifications from other EU member states were entitled to teach here.
The Department of Education had confirmed that "subject to certain criteria" this was the case. They were confident they met these criteria and therefore that the qualification would enable its graduates to teach in national schools here. This situation was explained to all applicants.
Is this the case? we asked the Department of Education. It summed the situation up as follows: teacher training qualifications from other EU states are indeed recognised subject to certain criteria. It was true that people who trained in teacher training courses in the UK had got recognition to teach here.
But that did not mean that teacher training degrees from the UK were automatically recognised; each one was looked at on its merits if a teacher holding that qualification applied. The ruling dealt with recognition of qualifications, not approval of courses, which would be the business of the National Council for Educational Awards (NCEA).
Secondly, the Department pointed out, in the hypothetical situation of a college in Ireland developing its own course to be validated by Exeter, there would be the question of whether this course would qualify graduates to teach in the UK; if it did not, then it did not come under the heading of a qualification from another member state.
Ms Barry Walsh said they were aware of these constraints but were confident that they would meet the criteria and would be recognised for qualified teacher status in the UK.
Exeter University responded to all of this by stating it firmly stood over its original statement and did not want to add anything. Ms Murray says that as of now the deposits have been returned - the courses were offered on either a part time or full time basis and cost up to £1,450 per annum - and applicants have been offered the opportunity to reapply for the diploma courses awarded by the Irish Academic Council. They were considering opening discussions with other UK universities "and, believe me, there are many interested."
The college had about 100 students last year and 50 had applied this year.
ROUND THREE POINTS
Round Three offers should arrive in the post this morning. The points for Round Three will be published in The Irish Times tomorrow.