Eden College in Dublin has been shut down with immediate effect following a Sunday Times investigation that exposed staff of offering to alter attendance records, an act in breach of visa regulations. An estimated 400 ELT students have been affected of the total 1,200 enrolled students on courses including business, nursing and hospitality programmes.

All the future is in developing markets so there has to be joined up enlightened thinking about the whole area of international education and visas and that’s how we’re lobbying. We’re going to continue our efforts from last year in Turkey, China and Russia.

Launched in March by the Irish immigration authorities and sector body, MEI, the fast-track visa programme for Chinese students is so far underwhelming the sector for its impact on enrolment figures. Despite an initial quota set at 400 students, only about 200 hundred are expected to enrol by the end of the year.

A scholarship scheme for English teachers from outside the EU to study in Ireland has been expanded to include China and Russia, The PIE News learned at this week's MEI workshop, Galway. The scheme hopes to promote Ireland as an ELT destination via the teachers.

Chinese students will be able to study English in Ireland more easily under a new visa scheme aimed at boosting the language sector. 55 schools will be able to recruit through “trusted agents” in China while eligible Chinese students will need to provide fewer documents and will have their applications fast-tracked by the Irish Embassy in Beijing.

The Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, attended the MEI agent workshop last month and met education agents and members of Ireland's....