Accreditation Information
Accreditation ensures a basic level of quality in the education you receive from an institution. Accreditation status is provided by awarding bodies, who are are empowered to ‘make awards’, or ‘award qualifications’. Most major awards are made by awarding bodies with statutory powers, but there are also many professional organisations that make their own awards.
For more information on accreditation in Ireland visit www.nqai.ie
The State Examinations Commission
The State Examinations Commission is responsible for the development, assessment, accreditation and certification of the second-level examinations of the Irish state: the Junior Certificate and the Leaving Certificate. The State Examinations Commission is a non-departmental public body under the aegis of the Department of Education and Science. Awards in the national framework of qualifications gained from second level education are levels 3, 4 and 5. (see diagram above)
For more information on the State Examinations Commission visit http://www.examinations.ie.
The Further Education Training Awards Council (FETAC)
FETAC was set up as a statutory body by the Minister for Education and Science under the Qualifications (Education & Training) Act, 1999. FETAC has responsibility for making awards previously made by BIM, Fáilte Ireland (CERT), FÁS, NCVA and Teagasc and has made over 430,000 awards to date. They accredit 6 levels of qualification. (see diagram above)
South Dublin Adult Education Service and County Dublin V.E.C. provides a large number of Further Education courses at FETAC Levels 1/6 for students. These courses are of tremendous educational benefit to the individual and additionally can be used as a stepping stone into mainstream 3rd level education.
For more information on FETAC visit http://www.fetac.ie
ECDL
The European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) is the world’s leading end-user computer skills certification programme. It is internationally recognised as the global benchmark for end-user computer skills and is the leading certification to be adopted by governments, international organisations and corporations alike.
The ECDL/ICDL certifies that the holder is competent in the use of a personal computer and common computer applications and knows the essential concepts of IT. In Ireland ECDL courses are accredited through ICS.
For more information on ICS visit http://www.ics.ie
