A new database, released by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), provides a comprehensive list of all quality-assured qualifications offered in Ireland.

Dr Padraig Walsh is Chief Executive Officer of Quality & Qualifications Ireland (QQI).

The database – Irish Register of Qualifications (IRQ) – lists quality-assured, recognised qualifications offered by universities and institutes of technology, as well as private HE colleges, education and training boards, and private FE providers delivering courses leading to a QQI Award.  QQI is continuing to work with awarding bodies to ensure the database is fully populated and entries are kept up-to-date.

Over time, the Register will also perform the following functions:

• Allow domestic and international authorities to confirm which qualifications are on the NFQ, which courses lead to these qualifications, and the associated awarding body.
• Confirm those awarding bodies and qualifications eligible for the International Education Mark (a new quality mark for awarding bodies that provide international education opportunities in Ireland) when it is established.
• Provide an opportunity for government departments and state bodies to reduce the administrative burden on awarding bodies, replacing state-maintained lists such as the Interim List of Eligible Programmes for international student immigration permissions, and the list of courses eligible for tax exemptions.
• Facilitate the international academic recognition of qualifications offered and achieved in Ireland.

The IRQ will provide public confirmation of the formal, technical relationship between a qualification and the NFQ. It will also supply details about the associated course, provider, and awarding body.

At a later date, the IRQ will also include qualifications from other awarding bodies when they are eligible to have qualifications included within the NFQ, for example, professional bodies, and UK and other international awarding bodies.

Learners, particularly Leaving Certificate students, will continue to use the services of Qualifax, the national learners’ database of courses, which offers career guidance and information for learners, parents, and job seekers on course choices and entry requirements.

You can visit the Irish Register of Qualifications (IRQ) here.

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