The Further Education and Training Awards Council

The Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC) is a great way of furthering your education if you don’t get the points you need to get into college or university. Not only does it offer really worthwhile courses where you gain excellent training, skills and qualifications designed specifically to help you in the industry you want to get into, it also helps fast-track you into university or college. FETAC acts like a “stepping stone” into higher education as well as preparing you for the world of work by enabling you to gain the skills and training needed for a particular career. FETAC programmes are designed to help you progress either into a specific career or third level education. People who gain FETAC awards often go on to gain higher education and training awards too.

FETAC is the national awarding body for further education and training in Ireland. It was set up in 2001 by the Minister of Education and Science under the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act, 1999.

This system ensures that all awards are in accordance with national standards set out in the NFQ and creates opportunities for all learners in further education and training to have their achievements recognised. FETAC offers opportunities for learners allowing people to gain the qualifications or training they need to get a new or better job. It is the single national body responsible for granting awards as well as setting – and maintaining – standards in further education and training.

FETAC makes over 70,000 awards annually to learners in Ireland. FETAC awards are placed on the NFQ at levels 3-6 and under this system their value is easily compared with other national and international awards. 

Click here to view the fan diagram.

The programmes leading to FETAC awards operate in diverse settings such as in the workplace or community. The wide range of course providers include the following:

-Adult and Community Education and Training Centres
-Agricultural and Horticultural Colleges
-BIM Training Centres
-Centres for Learners with Special Needs
-Colleges of Further Education
-Community Training Workshops
-FÁS Net College – interactive learning online
-FÁS Training Centres
-Fáilte Ireland Training Centres
-In-Company Sites
-Institutes of Technology
-Literacy Centres
-Post Leaving Certificate (PLC)/FE Centres
-Private Training Providers
-Senior Traveller Training Centres
-Skillnets/Work-based Learning
-Specialist Training Centres
-Teagasc Training Centres
-Vocational Education Centres (VECs)
-Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) Centres
-Workplace
-YOUTHREACH Centres

FETAC is a great way of furthering your education if you don’t get the points you need to get into college or university. Not only does it offer really worthwhile courses where you gain excellent training, skills and qualifications designed specifically to help you in the industry you want to get into, it also helps fast-track you into university or college. FETAC acts like a “stepping stone” into higher education as well as preparing you for the world of work by enabling you to gain the skills and training needed for a particular career. FETAC programmes are designed to help you progress either into a specific career or third level education. People who gain FETAC awards often go on to gain higher education and training awards too.

Many of the FETAC programmes enable you to gain access straight onto the course you had intended to study at university, college or an institute of technology. So, you could, say, actually start the course you wanted to do immediately after the Leaving Certificate a year later not having re-sat your exams, but instead with new skills, qualifications and training in your subject area – whish is one way of putting you top of the class!

The Higher Education Links Scheme (HELS) is designed to enable students on the FETAC level 5 certificates and the FETAC level 6 Advanced certificates to progress onto higher education courses.

The Pilot Scheme also offers progression routes to higher education via many of the FETAC level 5 and level 6 advanced certificates. This scheme enables students to gain entry onto a higher certificate course (level 6), ordinary degree (level 7), and honours degree (level 8) courses with the exception of nursing degrees.

Institutions operating the Higher Education Links Scheme (HELS) for 2010 are listed below:

All Hallows College
American College, Dublin
Carlow College – St. Patrick’s
Dublin City University
Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)
Mary Immaculate College (University of Limerick)
Mater Dei College (DCU)
National College of Art and Design (NCAD)
NUI Galway
NUI Maynooth
Shannon College of Hotel Management
St. Angela’s Sligo
St Patrick's College Maynooth (Pontifical University)
St Patrick's College Drumcondra
University College Cork (UCC)
University College Dublin (UCD)
University of Limerick (UL)

Institutions operating the Pilot Scheme for 2010 are listed below:

Athlone Institute of Technology
Cork Institute of Technology
Dublin Business School
Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology
Dundalk Institute of Technology
Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology
Grafton College of Management Sciences
Griffith College Dublin
Griffith College Cork
Independent Colleges, Dublin
Institute of Business and Technology Swords
Institute of Technology Blanchardstown
Institute of Technology Carlow
Institute of Technology Sligo
Institute of Technology Tralee
ITT Dublin (Institute of Technology Tallaght)
Letterkenny Institute of Technology
Limerick Institute of Technology
National College of Ireland
National Counselling Institute of Ireland, Limerick
St Patrick's College, Thurles
Tipperary Institute
Waterford Institute of Technology