Third Level Education

159. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his plans to ensure claims by institutions that advertise third level courses as Teaching Council-recognised are accurate. [78402/26]

I want to discuss how we can ensure that institutions which are advertising third level courses and saying they are able to be registered with the Teaching Council are in fact able to be registered with the Teaching Council. A number of people have come forward to the media and to me with regard to Portobello Institute, which has advertised a number of courses, stating that a student who undertakes one of those courses will be registered with the Teaching Council. This is not correct.

I am not at all impressed with what has seemingly happened in Portobello in terms of courses being marketed one way and transpiring to have a different quality or citations when they come out. The Teaching Council is the regulator of the teaching profession in Ireland and its role is to protect the public. There is a very strict statutory framework for accurate information being provided to learners signed up to any course. That is covered under section 67 of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 as amended. There is a policy and criteria for access through the various agencies which monitor that, primarily Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI. Programmes leading to a national framework of qualification, NFQ, award go on the Irish register of qualifications. That oversight is constantly maintained. One of the difficulties with Portobello is it is actually managed under the UK regulator. It applied to the UK regulator for accreditation. Universities can do that and many of them operate under different headings. Georgia Southern University was mentioned in the last question. Indeed, Irish universities provide services in other jurisdictions as well. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with that but, as it is accredited by a different jurisdiction, the QQI regulations are not applicable to it in the same way as would be the case if it was registered under QQI. I have asked my officials to engage with QQI on this issue and QQI has set up a meeting as a result of that with the UK regulator, namely, the Office for Students, to discuss the issues arising from this case and examine what actions can be taken now and in the future. I have asked for that meeting to take place and when it has occurred I will be in a position to update the Deputy further. I will be following this closely because I am not one bit happy with the way it happened. With this kind of situation, students enter a contract. They sign up to a particular agreement. They are offered a course place and accept it. There are legal entitlements arising from that as well. Students might be well advised to look at the legal framework around that and what other recourse they may have.

I absolutely agree with the Minister. It is scandalous. One of the students paid €18,000 to do a course in physical education, PE teaching. He is already a teacher and wanted to do the course to allow him to teach PE but the course is not recognised. The institution is using a different jurisdiction to get the qualification but the issue is its advertising. Am I correct in thinking it is the Minister’s Department that is able to enforce that? Where does the buck stop, ultimately? There is a little bit of confusion. It does not stop with the Teaching Council or QQI. The university is falsely advertising and people are being left out of pocket. It was reiterated in letters to the students that the course was going to be registered with the Teaching Council. It is now changing that on its website because so many people have been complaining. There have been complaints in the media, and rightly so. Nobody should have to. One person in the media said they felt like an idiot and felt as if they were the only one affected. Many people have been affected. Whether it is this institution or others, this needs to be stopped straight away.

I thank the Deputy. I agree, and share her frustration. Portobello College is a private college and operates under UK accreditation. It is entitled to do that. It is a free market and there is freedom of services and so on. That is a slight difficulty in this instance because it is not a part of the Irish QQI landscape. It is not a part of the system. Students have recourse to the Ombudsman. They also have recourse to a private law scenario. They have entered into a contract. They have paid fees. They had a certain representation made to them at the time of entering into that contract and it has not turned out to be correct. I advise those students to consider seeking legal advice as to what options may be open to them. It would appear to me that they have a strong ground for grievance based on what has since transpired. More broadly, QQI is on top of qualifications and accreditations, with constant monitoring and rigour being applied to all the courses under its remit. It works with the Teaching Council in the instance of teacher education but many other professional bodies also feed into QQI for the different types of courses being offered. It is not acceptable.

It is a stark warning to students to watch out in respect of what they are being advertised. To reiterate, they can go to the Ombudsman. The private law option is fine, but it is expensive. Engaging any solicitor is very expensive. My first question is: which Ombudsman should they approach? I want to be clear for people who are listening in. Which Ombudsman should they approach? Is there a possibility for the Department or somebody in government to help these students, who have paid out thousands of euro for these courses in the belief they would be able to do it? This is affecting students coming through different routes who have three years to apply to do a recognised course. They have done that or have undertaken to do that. They thought they were doing a correct course and they are not. They are now in a situation where they are outside that framework with regard to the Teaching Council routes as outlined. I want to be clear for people who are listening. There is a lot of fear out there and a lot of money has been spent. Yes, they have knowledge, but it is not going to get them anywhere in terms of teaching. We have a teacher crisis in many subjects. We need to get on top of this. I thank the Minister.

This appears to me to be false advertising. That is not acceptable. Having said that, it is a private institution, offering private courses that are accredited by the UK. It is not a State body or a state-aided college. It is not a part of the public system at all. There is a certain freedom of contract whereby individuals can sign up to any learning platform or other course or service provider of any kind, whatever it happens to be. In this case, it is an educational service. I agree with the Deputy that students should be very careful with what they are signing up to. They must ensure that any offering is watertight before they enter into that contract. The Deputy said that solicitors are expensive. Those students should have a consultation. It is up to individuals what they choose to do. That may not prove to be the case, depending on the outcome and depending on where things go. It is obviously up to all individuals to consider their own circumstances but I certainly would not want any student who may be considering that option to fear it because of prohibitive cost. They would have a conversation the first time they ring up and can see where that goes. There is only one Ombudsman. There may be special ombudsmen for other areas, such as the Pensions Ombudsman, but for consumer law, into which this issue falls, and consumers being dealt a hard and unfair deal, there is only one Ombudsman's office. That is where I would direct students. I am engaging with QQI and have directed its representatives to speak to its UK equivalent. The law may restrict what I can do, but in the spirit of the law, I am asking the college to engage to see what we can come up with.