Accreditation
QQI
QQI (Quality and Qualifications Ireland) is an independent State agency responsible for promoting quality and accountability in education and training services in Ireland. It was established in 2012 by the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012. METAC Training have been a quality approved provider for QQI since 2012 and FETAC approved prior to this.
Qualifications frameworks describe the qualifications of an education and training system and how they interlink.
METAC Training offer many QQI approved level 5 and level 6 programmes, from Special Needs Assistant to Domestic Heat pump Systems.
National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ)
Established in 2003, the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) is a 10-level, single national entity through which all learning achievements may be measured and related to each other. Underpinned by quality assurance principles, the Irish NFQ describes qualifications in the Irish education and training system and sets out what each qualification says about what learners know, understand and are able to do. It also sets out qualifications pathways from one NFQ level to the next.
Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) is responsible for developing, promoting and maintaining the Irish NFQ. QQI also facilitates the recognition of foreign qualifications.
What is the QQI Award?
The QQI Award is the quality-assured qualification awarded for further and higher education and training in Ireland. The QQI award has replaced the certification previously made by FETAC and HETAC*. Learners receive a QQI award when they successfully complete a course at any of the 10 levels of the National Framework of Qualification (NFQ). QQI is also developing qualifications for English language programmes.
A major award – a qualification that shows that an individual has achieved a broad range of skills often having studied many different subjects. A level 5 certificate and the bachelor degree are examples of well-known major awards on the NFQ.
A non-major award – a qualification that shows that an individual has gained a set of skills which are useful for a specific task or work activity. Non-major awards can be used, in a flexible way, to achieve a major award.