Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Act 2019

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 32/2019
• Year: 2019

Number 32 of 2019
QUALIFICATIONS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE (EDUCATION AND TRAINING) (AMENDMENT) ACT 2019
CONTENTS
PART 1
Preliminary and General
Section
1. Short title and commencement
2. Definition
PART 2
Amendment of Principal Act
3. Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act (Interpretation)
4. Amendment of section 9 of Principal Act (Functions of Authority)
5. Amendment of section 13 of Principal Act (Co-operation with Authority)
6. Amendment of Principal Act - furnishing of information to other bodies
7. Amendment of section 27 of Principal Act (Quality assurance)
8. Amendment of section 28 of Principal Act (Obligation of providers to prepare quality assurance procedures)
9. Condition precedent for provisions of Principal Act to be invoked by specified providers - criteria specified in regulations must be met
10. Amendment of section 30 of Principal Act (Quality assurance procedures and relevant providers, other than previously established universities)
11. Amendment of section 34 of Principal Act (Review by Authority of quality assurance procedures of relevant providers)
12. Amendment of section 36 of Principal Act (Withdrawal by Authority of approval of quality assurance procedures)
13. Amendment of section 42 of Principal Act (Quality reviews by Authority)
14. Amendment of section 43 of Principal Act (Framework of qualifications)
15. New section 43A of Principal Act - offence to provide or advertise cheating services
16. Amendment of section 44 of Principal Act (Application for validation of programme of education and training)
17. Amendment of section 45 of Principal Act (Determination of application for validation of programme of education and training)
18. Amendment of section 47 of Principal Act (Withdrawal of programme validation)
19. Amendment of section 48 of Principal Act (Arrangement between providers and awarding bodies other than the Authority)
20. Amendment of section 50 of Principal Act (Making of an award)
21. Amendment of section 52 of Principal Act (Request by provider for delegation of authority to make award)
22. Amendment of section 53 of Principal Act (Determination of request for delegation of authority to make award)
23. New sections 55A to 55I of Principal Act - awards included within Framework (process by which awards acquire such status)
24. Amendment of section 57 of Principal Act (Review by Authority of implementation of procedures for access, transfer and progression)
25. Amendment of section 60 of Principal Act (Code of Practice for provision of programme to international learners)
26. Amendment of section 61 of Principal Act (International education mark)
27. Amendment of section 63 of Principal Act (Review by Authority of provider’s compliance with code of practice and provider’s use of international education mark)
28. Amendment of section 64 of Principal Act (Interpretation)
29. Amendment of section 65 of Principal Act (Arrangements by providers for protection of enrolled learners)
30. New section 66 of Principal Act (Protection of Enrolled Learners Fund)
31. Payment of annual charges into Learner Protection Fund and related matters
32. Amendment of section 67 of Principal Act (Obligation on providers to furnish information to enrolled learners)
33. Amendment of section 79 of Principal Act (Database)
34. Amendment of section 80 of Principal Act (Fees)
35. Amendment of section 84 of Principal Act (Transitional and savings provision for the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999)
PART 3
Miscellaneous
36. Amendment of Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992
37. Authorisation to use description: “university”
38. Construction of references in other enactments to awards recognised within Framework
Acts Referred to
Central Bank Act 1971 (No. 24)
Companies Act 2014 (No. 38)
Data Protection Act 2018 (No. 7)
Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 (No. 11)
Education Act 1998 (No. 51)
Further Education and Training Act 2013 (No. 25)
Higher Education Authority Act 1971 (No. 22)
Institutes of Technology Act 2006 (No. 25)
Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999 (No. 26)
Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 (No. 28)
Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992 (No. 16)
Technological Universities Act 2018 (No. 3)
Universities Act 1997 (No. 24)
Number 32 of 2019
QUALIFICATIONS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE (EDUCATION AND TRAINING) (AMENDMENT) ACT 2019
An Act to amend and extend the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 ; for that purpose to make fresh provision concerning the means by which an award’s status, with reference to the National Framework of Qualifications, may be established and, to that end, to provide for the establishment of a category of awarding bodies, exclusive of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland or certain other persons, which shall be known as “listed awarding bodies”; to provide, as a condition precedent for provisions of that Act to be invoked by providers falling within a certain category (or intending such providers), for a requirement that criteria specified in regulations, to be made by the Minister for Education and Skills, must be met, including criteria for the purpose of affording a reasonable assurance to the foregoing Authority that a foregoing provider has the capacity and capability to provide programmes of education and training consistent with the requirements of that Act; to provide for the establishment of a fund which shall be known as “Protection of Enrolled Learners Fund”, into which an annual charge by certain providers must be paid and from which moneys may, in cases of default in delivery of certain programmes, be paid so to enable enrolled learners complete the programme concerned or so as to be used for certain other purposes; to make further provision regarding authorisation to use the international education mark; to add to the cases in which a provider may be authorised to describe itself as a “university” and, for that purpose, to amend the Universities Act 1997 ; and to provide for related matters.
[23rd July, 2019]
Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:
PART 1 Preliminary and General
		Short title and commencement
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Act 2019.
	(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Education and Skills may by order or orders appoint either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.
		Definition
2.In this Act “Principal Act” means the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 .
PART 2 Amendment of Principal Act
		Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act (Interpretation)
3. (1) Section 2(1) of the Principal Act is amended:
	(a) by the insertion of the following definition after the definition of “Appeals Board”:
	“‘associated provider’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 55F(1);”;
	(b) by the insertion of the following definition after the definition of “award”:
	“‘award that is included within the Framework’ shall be construed in accordance with section 55B;”;
	(c) in the definition of “designated awarding body”, by the insertion of “an Institute of Technology,” after “a technological university,” (inserted by the Technological Universities Act 2018 );
	(d) by the insertion of the following definition after the definition of “dissolved body”:
	“‘English language education and training’ means a programme of education and training in English as a foreign language and ‘English language programme’ shall be construed accordingly;”;
	(e) by the insertion of the following definition after the definition of “linked provider”:
	“‘listed awarding body’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 55A(1)(a);”;
	(f) in the definition of “relevant provider”—
	(i) in paragraph (g), by the substitution of “section 53,” for “section 53, or”,
	(ii) in paragraph (h), by the substitution, in subparagraph (ii), of “provider,” for “provider;”, and
	(iii) by the insertion of the following paragraphs after paragraph (h) —
	“(i) an Institute of Technology,
	(j) an education and training board, or
	(k) a listed awarding body providing one or more programmes leading to its own awards that are awards included within the Framework;”;
	and
	(g) by the insertion of the following definition after the definition of “relevant provider”:
	“ ‘Solas’ means An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna;”.
	(2) Section 2 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):
	“(2) For the purposes of this Act, a programme of education and training is validated where the Authority confirms under section 45 that the provider of the programme has satisfied the Authority that, in respect of the period for which, by virtue of subsection (1A) or (1B) of section 45, the validation is to have effect:
	(a) an enrolled learner of that provider who completes that programme will acquire, and where appropriate, be able to demonstrate, the necessary knowledge, skill or competence to justify an award of the Authority being offered in respect of that programme;
	(b) the quality assurance procedures established under section 28 by that provider are consistent with the guidelines issued by the Authority under section 27(1) and suitable for quality assuring that programme; and
	(c) the provider has the capacity and capability to provide that programme;
	and section 45 shall be construed and operate so as to require the Authority to be so satisfied as to those matters.”.
	(3) Section...