INTERNATIONAL students are being warned that unscrupulous schools are attempting to “cash in” on state approval to recruit students from outside the EU before a new regulation regime comes into force, writes Mark Tighe.
Marketing English in Ireland (MEI), which represents English language schools that meet the high standards set by state inspectors, has said it has seen examples of “rogue schools” offering international students one-year courses for €600 to €700 in recent days.
Under the reforms announced by the government last week, language schools will only be approved to recruit non-European Economic Area (EEA) students on visas that allow them to work in Ireland if they offer Irish-accredited courses. Courses that will no longer be approved for the state’s Internationalisation Register under the new regime must have their students in Ireland before January 1, 2015, or the students will not be issued with a visa.
Many schools only offer courses that are accredited abroad but some of these operate largely as “visa factories” for economic migrants, according to the government report published last week.
The new regime was devised in response to the widespread abuse of the visa system exposed last April by a Sunday Times investigation. The government estimates the international school sector is worth an annual €800m to the Irish economy. There are 37,000 non-EEA students in Ireland.
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David O’Grady, chief executive of MEI, said he had seen evidence that “dodgy schools” were “ratcheting up their marketing and recruitment operations” ahead of the new regulatory regime coming into force on January 1.
“We would be concerned that thousands of students could be recruited between now and the end of the year and come January these schools will be closed and we will be swamped with students with no schools to go to,” he said.
Sheila Power, the director of the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS), said she had similar concerns.
“In the lead up to January, some of these colleges may make a final attempt to cash in by making unrealistic offers to unsuspecting students,” said Power. “We really need to see clear alerts going out to try and minimise the number of prospective students who could get stung.”
Sources believe that at least 15 schools in Dublin alone will be forced to close in January as they will be unable to meet the new criteria set down by the government. Some 230 private schools are permitted to recruit non-EEA students on visas that allow them to work here. Seven schools have closed this year with more than 2,500 registered students left out of pocket.
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A number of the non-MEI schools met last week to discuss how they could oppose the new regime which they believe is anti-competitive. No one from the group was available for comment.
Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), the state body that will oversee regulation of the sector, has committed to publishing inspection reports for schools from next year to allow prospective students and agents to assess which schools to choose. Many students from schools that closed have complained they had no way of knowing the school they chose was not reputable.
The International Education Mark (IEM), administered by QQI, will be introduced next year and only schools qualifying for the IEM will be allowed to recruit non-EEA students.
“This is basic transparency and already happens for inspections in our schools,” said Power. “QQI’s institutional quality reviews are also routinely published. [Publishing reports online] should certainly be part of our efforts to inform and protect international students.”