Call for action to ease plight of displaced students

Student representatives say Government plans to enforce standards in English language schools will not be enough to ease the plight of hundreds of overseas students affected by recent college closures.

The concerns were raised by Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) as a Government-led task force was announced to assess the situation after five private schools have closed since mid-April, and the case of a number of others where students face uncertainty since their colleges were removed from an international register used by immigration authorities in reference to student visas.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said the group meeting for the first time tomorrow will be co-chaired by his department and the Department of Justice. He and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald expect an initial report by the end of next week on the affected numbers and the level of alternative classes that will need to be provided.

“Their visa status will not be changed, so they will not be required to leave the country. We don’t know yet the full numbers involved,” he said.

Mr Quinn said colleges have been suspended by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) because of concerns it had over data regarding visas, and he will be seeking to establish when their investigations can be complete. This, he said, would allow alternative arrangements to be made for students of colleges that are found not to be compliant with visa regulations.

“There’s nothing predictable about a sector where a lot of the operators are very lightly regulated, if regulated at all. We will ultimately move, I think, to a situation where, even in the private sector, schools will not be able to invite students from abroad unless they have an international quality mark from Irish education authorities,” he said.

But as dozens of former students of Millennium College — which closed in Dublin on Friday — demonstrated their frustration outside his department and INIS, ICOS said talk of future tough enforcement is no substitute for swift and compassionate measures to alleviate the distress of hundreds of displaced students already here and countless more booked, paid for and yet to travel. ICOS estimates at least 1,800 students are affected by the recent closures, but director Sheila Power said problems in the international education sector have been known for many years but not yet addressed by a quality mark system that was first discussed under the last government.