The provision of English language education in Ireland is a broad and diverse sector with the vast majority of activity undertaken by privately owned education providers. These providers recruit international students from both within and outside the EU. My Department does not collate data on the number of English language schools or the number of students studying English language courses in Ireland. It is estimated that there are over 100 English language schools operating in the state.A new international education quality mark, TrustEd Ireland, is being introduced by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), an agency under the remit of my Department. The TrustEd Ireland Mark will be awarded to higher education and English language education providers who have demonstrated that they meet new national standards to ensure a quality experience for international learners. The new TrustEd Ireland scheme will establish, for the first time, a formal quality assurance process for the English language education sector in Ireland and will provide QQI with statutory powers to regulate this sector.As part of the application process for authorisation to use the TrustEd Ireland mark, education institutions are required to submit information on the number of students enrolled on English language education programmes to QQI. There are currently no plans for my Department to collate this data directly.
