Dublin Business School (DBS) should consider paying refunds to students studying social care work over a failure by the college to secure the required professional accreditation for the degrees, Minister for Higher and Further Education Simon Harris has said.
Earlier this month, social care students in DBS were told the college had withdrawn its application for graduates of the course to be accredited by CORU, the regulator for health and social care professionals.
The decision means about 80 students who had anticipated being able to register to work as social care workers after graduating would no longer be able to do so.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Harris said he had made it “very clear” to the president of the college that refunds “have to be on the table” for students.
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The college had informed students that it had withdrawn its application for professional accreditation for the degrees after it became apparent that the application would not be successful.
“We’ve got to be honest here, students in DBS thought they were signing up for something that turned out to be very different and I do think there will be a need for DBS to recompense the students regardless of the outcome,” Mr Harris told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
The Minister said he was “extremely concerned” at the way students on the applied social care course had been treated.
“For some students it may be possible to transfer to other accredited courses, for other students it may be possible to use the time between now and joining the register to clock up enough professional experience to join the register,” he said.
Mr Harris said he did not think the college intended to “dupe students”, but added lessons had to be learned from the controversy.
“I don’t believe it was put up in lights for students to see very clearly that this course was not currently an automatic way of getting on the CORU register, and I think students feel duped in that regard and it’s important that’s reflected,” he said.
CORU, the professional standards body for social work, last week told students “the responsibility lies with DBS who have been aware since 2017 that CORU cannot admit graduates to the register if their qualification does not meet the required standards”. The State body added other colleges had secured CORU accreditation for their courses.
Mr Harris said there were three options for how the students in DBS might achieve professional accreditation with CORU.
“One is what is called a grandfathering provision, this is that there is a period of time between now and having to join the register, that if people do enough professional practice and experience, they can be entitled to join the register,” he said.
Students could also transfer to a college course that was accredited by CORU, or another path being examined was the possibility of “some bridging mechanism or bridging course” being set up, he said.
