Ireland to open applications for new quality assurance mark in September 2024

Prospective international students considering Ireland as a study abroad destination now have added incentive: they will know that Irish institutions have met the robust requirements to achieve the TrustEd Ireland mark of quality assurance.

This new designation means that an Irish institution has met “national standards to ensure a high-quality experience for international students, from enrolment to completion of their programme of education and training.”

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan announced that TrustEd Ireland will open for applications in September 2024. He explained the significance of the mark:

“The introduction of TrustEd Ireland is a significant milestone in our mission to position Ireland as a destination of choice for international learners, researchers and innovators. [It] will build on and enhance the existing quality assurance infrastructures in higher education. The mark will be transformative for the English language education sector in Ireland, which will be placed on a statutory footing for the first time.”

The mark will be administered and authorised by the state agency Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI).

TrustEd Ireland is bolstered by new statutory processes including:

• “Two Codes of Practice, one for higher education providers and one for English language education providers, who will demonstrate compliance with the relevant code criteria;
• A ‘due diligence’ evaluation process to examine the capacity and capability of private/independent education providers to quality assure and deliver education programmes;
• A new statutory Learner Protection Fund and scheme to protect learners enrolled with private/independent higher education and English language education providers.”

New quality assurance system complements Ireland’s growing popularity

The introduction of the TrustEd Ireland mark occurs at a time when more of the world’s prospective students are evaluating alternative destinations. Ireland has become an increasingly popular destination for higher education and English-language learning.

If we look around the world, most English-language sectors have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels of business. That is not the case for Ireland. Student weeks and numbers have surpassed volumes in 2019 and providers are hiring more staff.

Record-high foreign enrolments also characterise the Irish higher education sector, with 35,140 international students enrolled in the 2022/23 academic year. This represents year-over-year growth of just under 11% and 18% growth since 2019.

Minister O’Donovan noted:

"TrustEd Ireland will be one of the most robust schemes for the regulation of international education in existence globally. It will be the only statutory English language education inspection scheme in the world that includes a due diligence evaluation, and this evaluation will be rigorous.

The quality assurance systems in place to support learners, coupled with the mandatory requirement for education providers to participate in the new statutory Learner Protection Fund, will serve as a message to international learners that the education experience they will receive in Ireland is secure, of the highest quality and globally recognised.”

TrustEd Ireland will be officially launched at an event on 25 September.

For additional background, please see:

• Of special note to agency-based counsellors: the Ireland Education Agent Course. Join this online course for a comprehensive understanding of Ireland’s education system and study options, and to develop specialist skills for advising students who wish to study in the country.
• “Foreign enrolment in Irish HE reaches a new high”
• “Irish ELT sector continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels of business”