Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) is the Awarding Body for the Certificate, Diploma, Degree and Masters programmes offered by National College of Ireland (NCI). QQI was established under the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012. This new authority was created through the amalgamation of the Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC), the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC), the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI) and the Irish Universities Quality Board (IUQB). As such, QQI has assumed all the awarding and quality assurance functions of these legacy bodies in addition to other statutory responsibilities.
QQI facilitates NCI in issuing certificates (parchments) to learners who have reached the standard for an award. The certificate acts as formal confirmation that the named person has demonstrated the knowledge, skill and competence required to achieve the specified award. All certificates issued by QQI list awards on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). By giving an academic or vocational value to qualifications obtained in Ireland, the NFQ levels help indicate how an award can be used for training, education and employment opportunities both nationally and internationally.
As one of the largest Higher Education and Training providers in Ireland, offering over eighty full-time and part-time programmes at Levels 5-10 on the NFQ, NCI works in close partnership with QQI. All programmes delivered at NCI that are accredited by QQI are subject to validation, a regulatory process that determines if a QQI award can be offered in respect of a provider’s programme of education and training. All validation determinations are subject to a duration of enrolment condition, usually five years, which means that each programme must be revalidated to guarantee its continued viability for prospective learners and its relevance to the changing requirements of the labour market. This close partnership with QQI also ensures that NCI’s undergraduate and postgraduate programmes are informed by the most current practices in quality assurance and delivered to the highest standards of academic integrity.
In addition to QQI, NCI also offers programmes that are awarded by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Institute of Commercial Management (ICM). A number of our programmes are also recognised by professional bodies. For example, the undergraduate psychology programmes are recognised by the Psychology Society of Ireland (PSI), the postgraduate human resources programmes are recognised by CIPD for membership purposes, while the accounting and finance programmes are recognised for exemption purposes by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). NCI continues to seek further accreditations for its programmes to ensure that our learners are recognised by the relevant professional body upon graduation.
NCI is a Higher Education Authority (HEA) funded institution. For further information, please visit Our Status.