Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1. Short title and commencement.

1.— (1) This Act may be cited as the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or provisions.

(3) An order under subsection (2)may, in respect of the repeal of the Act of 1999 or the provision of the Act of 1997, specified in Part 1of Schedule 2,and the revocation of the statutory instrument specified in Part 2 of that Schedule effected by section 6, appoint different days for the repeal of those Acts or different provisions of them and the revocation of different provisions of that statutory instrument.

2. Interpretation.

2.— (1) In this Act—

“access, transfer and progression”, in relation to learners, shall be construed in accordance with subsection (5);

“Act of 1908” means the Irish Universities Act 1908;

“Act of 1997” means the Universities Act 1997;

“Act of 1999” means the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999;

“An Foras” means An Foras Áiseanna Saothair;

“Appeals Panel” means the Appeals Panel established under section 68;

“Appeals Board” means an Appeals Board appointed under section 69 (3);

F1["associated provider" has the meaning assigned to it bysection 55F(1);]

“Authority” has the meaning assigned to it by section 8;

“award” means an award, including a joint award, for education or training, or both, made by an awarding body or in the case of a joint award, by two or more awarding bodies, to a learner to record or certify that the learner has acquired a particular standard of knowledge, skill or competence and includes—

(a) a certificate,

(b) a diploma,

(c) a degree;

F1["award that is included within the Framework" shall be construed in accordance withsection 55B;]

“awarding body” means a body which makes an award;

“chief executive” has the meaning assigned to it by section 15 and includes a person designated under section 16 (5) while he or she is performing the functions of the chief executive;

“code of practice” means a code of practice established and published by the Authority in accordance with section 60;

“company” means a company established under the Companies Acts;

“completion rate” for a programme of education and training means the ratio that the number of enrolled learners who complete the programme bears to the number of enrolled learners who commenced the programme;

“database” means the database established and maintained under section 79;

“designated awarding body” means a previously established university, the National University of Ireland, an educational institution established as a university under section 9 of the Act of 1997, F2[a technological university,] F1[an Institute of Technology,] the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland;

F3["designated institution of higher education" has the same meaning as it has in the Higher Education Authority Act 2022;]

“dissolved body” shall be construed in accordance with section 71;

F1["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;]

“enrolled learner” means a learner who has enrolled in a programme of education and training;

“establishment day” shall be construed in accordance with section 7;

“Framework” has the meaning assigned to it by section 43;

“Institute of Technology” means an institution referred to in section 3 (amended by section 4 of the Institutes of Technology Act 2006) of the Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992;

F4[…]

“international education mark” means the international education mark specified under section 61;

“international learner” means a person who is not an Irish citizen but is lawfully in the State primarily to receive education and training;

“joint award” means a single award made jointly by two or more awarding bodies;

“joint awarding arrangement” has the meaning assigned to it bysection 51 (1);

“linked provider” shall be construed in accordance with subsection (3);

F1["listed awarding body" has the meaning assigned to it bysection 55A(1)(a);]

“Minister” means the Minister for Education and Skills;

“National University of Ireland” means the university by that name in Dublin, constituted and founded by charter under the Act of 1908;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister;

“previously established university” means a university specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 4(1) of the Act of 1997;

“professional recognition body” means a body (including a professional association, professional institute or any other professional organisation) required or authorised by or under a law of the State to supervise or regulate the conduct of persons engaged in a profession;

“programme of education and training” means a process by which a learner acquires knowledge, skill or competence and includes a course of study, a course of instruction and an apprenticeship;

“provider” means a person who provides, organises or procures a programme of education and training;

“recognised school” means a school that is recognised by the Minister under section 10 of the Education Act 1998;

“record” includes—

(a) a record in writing,

(b) a plan, chart, map, drawing, diagram, pictorial or graphic image,

(c) a disc, tape, soundtrack, or other thing in which information, sounds or signals are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other thing) of being reproduced in legible or audible form, and

(d) a film, tape or other thing in which visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other thing) of being reproduced in visual form;

“register” means the register of providers established and maintained under section 78;

“relevant designated awarding body”, in relation to a linked provider, means the designated awarding body who has entered into the arrangement referred to in subsection (3), with the linked provider;

“relevant provider” means—

(a) a previously established university,

(b) an educational institution established as a university under section 9 of the Act of 1997,

F2[(ba) a technological university]

(c) the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland,

(d) the Dublin Institute of Technology,

(e) a provider whose programme of education and training is validated under section 45,

(f) a provider who has entered into an arrangement with an awarding body under section 48,

(g) a provider to whom authority to make an award has been delegated under F5[section 53,]

(h) a provider who is authorised to use the international education mark under section 61 other than a provider who is so authorised where that provider is also—

(i) a provider referred to in paragraphs (a) to (g), or

(ii) a linked F5[provider,]

F1[(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;]

F1["Solas" means An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna;]

“superannuation benefit” means a pension, gratuity or other allowance payable on resignation, retirement or death;

“Teagasc” means Teagasc — The Agriculture and Food Development Authority;

F2["technological university" has the meaning assigned to it by the Technological Universities Act 2018;]

“validation”, in relation to a programme of education and training, shall be construed in accordance with subsection (2);

F6[…]

F5[(2) For the purposes of this Act, a programme of education and training is validated where the Authority confirms undersection 45that the provider of the programme has satisfied the Authority that, in respect of the period for which, by virtue ofsubsection (1A)or(1B)ofsection 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 undersection 28by that provider are consistent with the guidelines issued by the Authority undersection 27(1)and suitable for quality assuring that programme; and

(c) the provider has the capacity and capability to provide that programme;

andsection 45shall be construed and operate so as to require the Authority to be so satisfied as to those matters.]

(3) Subject to subsection (4), a linked provider is a F5[provider that has a place of business in the State and is not] a designated awarding body but enters into an arrangement with a designated awarding body under which arrangement the provider provides a programme of education and training that satisfies all or part of the prerequisites for an award of the designated awarding body.

(4) A provider of a programme referred to in subsection (3)is not a linked provider where the award referred to in that subsection is a joint award of the provider and the designated awarding body.

(5) A reference to access, transfer and progression, in relation to learners, is a reference to—

(a) access by learners to programmes of education and training, including recognition for knowledge, skill or competence previously acquired,

(b) transfer of learners from one programme to another having received recognition for knowledge, skill or competence previously acquired, and

(c) progression of learners from a programme to another programme of a higher level.

3. Regulations.

3.— (1) The Minister may by regulations provide for any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

(2) Without prejudice to any provision of this Act, regulations under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

(3) Every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

4. Expenses.

4.— The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

5. Offences.

5.— (1) A person who commits an offence under section 83(6) or paragraph 13(2) of Schedule 1 shall be liable on summary conviction to a class A fine.

(2) Notwithstanding section 10(4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851, proceedings for an offence under section 83(6) or paragraph 13(2) of Schedule 1 may be instituted within 12 months from the date of the offence.

(3) A person who commits an offence under this Act, other than an offence referred to in subsection (1), shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both.

(4) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person shall, as well as the body corporate, commit an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she had committed the first-mentioned offence.

(5) Summary proceedings for an offence under this Act may be brought and prosecuted by the Authority.

6. Repeals and revocation.

6.— (1) The Acts specified in column (1) of Part 1of Schedule 2are repealed to the extent specified in column (2) of that Part.

(2) The statutory instrument specified in Part 2 of Schedule 2is revoked.

PART 2 Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland

7. Establishment day.

7.— The Minister shall, by order, appoint a day to be the establishment day for the purposes of this Act.

8. Establishment of Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland.

8.— (1) There shall stand established on the establishment day a body which shall, subject to subsection (2), be known in the Irish language as Údarás na hÉireann um Cháilíochtaí agus Dearbhú Cáilíochta or, in the English language, as the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland (in this Act referred to as the “Authority”) to perform the functions conferred on it by this Act.

(2) The Minister may, following consultation with the Authority, by order specify a name, other than the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland, by which the Authority may describe itself for operational purposes.

(3) Schedule 1 applies to the Authority.

9. Functions of Authority.

9.— (1) The general functions of the Authority shall be to—

(a) promote, maintain, further develop and implement the Framework,

(b) advise the Minister in relation to national policy on quality assurance and enhancement in education and training,

F7[(c) approve a provider’s quality assurance procedures and monitor and review the effectiveness of such procedures (including such procedures as they stand amended for the time being),]

(d) validate programmes of education and training, and review and monitor the validated programmes,

(e) establish the standards of knowledge, skill or competence to be acquired by learners before an award can be made by the Authority or by a provider to which authority to make an award has been delegated,

(f) make awards, delegate authority to make an award where it considers it appropriate and review and monitor the operation of the authority so delegated,

(g) determine policies and criteria for access, transfer and progression in relation to learners, and monitor the implementation of procedures for access, transfer and progression in relation to learners by providers,

(h) establish a code of practice for the provision of programmes of education and training to international learners,

(i) authorise the use of the international education mark by a provider that complies with the code of practice,

(j) establish, maintain and develop a database providing information on F7[awards that are awards included within the Framework], programmes of education and training which lead to F7[such awards] and any other programmes the Authority thinks appropriate,

(k) establish and maintain the register,

(l) advise and consult with the Minister, or any other Minister, on any matter which relates to its functions, at that Minister’s request,

(m) co-operate with international bodies on qualifications and quality assurance policies and their implementation and in particular to—

(i) liaise with awarding bodies outside the State for the purposes of facilitating the recognition in the State of awards of those bodies, and

(ii) facilitate the recognition outside the State of awards made in the State,

(n) ensure arrangements for the protection of learners are in place where learners have begun but not completed a programme of education and training where a provider ceases to provide the programme before completion,

(o) assist enrolled learners in finding alternative programmes of education and training where providers cease to provide a programme before F7[completion,]

(p) collect any information relating to the performance of its functions it considers F7[appropriate,]

F8[(q) share, as it considers appropriate, any information collected through the performance of its functions with a Department of State, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Solas and any other body the Authority considers appropriate, subject to the general law (and in particular the relevant law of the European Union and theData Protection Act 2018),

(r) make decisions that it is appropriate that particular awards be regarded, for the purposes of this Act, as awards that are included within the Framework, and

(s) as an element of the process of making decisions of the foregoing kind, prepare and publish a list of awarding bodies for the purposes of having awards included within the Framework.]

(2) The Authority in the performance of its functions shall—

(a) inform itself of the education, training, skills and qualifications requirements of industry, agriculture, business, tourism, trade, the professions and the public service, including requirements as to the level of knowledge, skill or competence to be acquired by learners,

(b) promote practices in education and training which meet the requirements referred to in paragraph (a),

(c) inform itself of practices outside the State in respect of matters relevant to its functions,

(d) have regard to such policies of the Government relating to education and training as are notified in writing to the Authority, by the F7[Minister,]

(e) consult, as it considers appropriate, with providers, professional recognition bodies, staff and learner representatives, An tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the State Examinations Commission F9[, Solas] and any other persons or bodies the F7[Authority considers appropriate,]

F9[(f) conduct any reviews that it considers necessary and expedient for the performance of its functions, and