Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

The Register of Education and Training Providers

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Frequently Asked Questions - General

Q1. What is the purpose of the Register of Education and Training Providers?

Q2. Who needs to be on the Register?

Q3. If a college is on the Register, does this guarantee that it provides good quality education and training?

Q4. How do I check if a college is on the Register?

Q5. What do colleges have to do to register?

Q6. Can a college advertise the fact that it is on the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Register?

Q7. What does the Department do about reports that a college on the Register is bogus?

Q1. What is the purpose of the Register of Education and Training Providers?

The Register of Education and Training Providers is a list of colleges including universities and private education providers in the UK.

The purpose of the Register is to help the Home Office tackle immigration abuse in the education sector.

All colleges that want to recruit overseas students need to appear on the Register.

The Home Office will only grant student visas to people intending to study at an institution on the Register. However, there is no need for colleges which do not recruit students from outside the EU to appear on the Register, nor is there any benefit to them in doing so.

If a college is on the Register this does not mean there is any guarantee of the quality of education available at that college. There is no automatic quality assurance or accreditation of colleges on the Register.

Q2. Who needs to be on the Register?

All colleges that want to recruit overseas students need to appear on the Register.
Learning providers in the UK who do not wish to recruit overseas students can register on the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP), which can be accessed at www.ukrlp.co.uk.

The UKRLP is a voluntary register which links information sources on education and training organisations in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Learners, employers, providers, awarding bodies, inspectorates, government agencies and government departments will all have access to this information.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) also operates a register known as EduBase, which is a separate database of state and compulsory-aged educational establishments in England, and can be accessed at www.edubase.gov.uk.
This is the register of state schools, further education colleges, universities and independent schools. Education establishments which are neither state maintained nor catering for children of compulsory school age, do not appear on EduBase.
The Register of Education and Training Providers is only relevant to overseas students requiring student visas, and the institutions at which they are studying.

Q3. If a college is on the Register, does this guarantee that it provides good quality education and training?

No. The Register does not quality assure or accredit in any way the learning provision of any registered colleges. Some colleges are accredited separately; you can ask the college you want to study at whether it has any accreditation.

If your college is not accredited and you are still concerned, you may wish to consider contacting the body which awards the qualification you are hoping to attain to see if the provider is approved to offer the qualifications it claims to offer. Your college should be able to tell you whether they are offering qualifications regulated by an external awarding body.

If you are proposing to take a qualification to enhance your career prospects, you might also wish to confirm with your prospective employers that they recognise the qualification you are intending to take.

If you are in any doubt about the college at which you are intending to study, you should conduct as many checks as possible to ensure that your hard work will lead to a qualification that is of value to you.

If you are seeking a UK degree-level qualification, you should also look at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills website, which provides a list of all institutions recognised as awarding UK degrees.

Other institutions may award degree-level qualifications from other countries. You should be clear about whether you are studying for a UK degree or one accredited from abroad, as it may affect the status of your qualification.

It is illegal for institutions to offer degree-level qualifications purporting to be UK degrees where they do not have permission to do so, so all the information from the college at which you intend to study should be clear about the status of their degree-level qualifications.

Q4. How do I check if a college is on the Register?

You may look for a college on the Register using the DIUS search facility.

You can search for an entry using the name, address, postcode or telephone number of the college.

If you do not find the college under the name you expect, it can be worth searching by another criterion; occasionally spellings of names can vary (eg. a listing you are expecting under “1st” may appear as “First”), and in order to be confident, we recommend searching under at least two or three categories.

Q5. What do colleges have to do to register?

There are two routes by which colleges are accepted on to the Register. Those colleges who receive public funding, have been inspected by government inspection bodies or are accredited through the British Council, British Accreditation Council or Association of British Language Schools are automatically added to the Register.

Any college which falls outside these categories will need to make an application to be considered against the criteria as defined by the Home Office and DIUS as part of the registration process.

ATTENTION – IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE APPLICATION PROCESS
From 3 March all applications received must be completed on the new electronic application form. Providers applying to the Register of Education and Training Providers may be subject to an unannounced pre-registration check. These checks, aimed at improving the students' education experience by eliminating bogus colleges, will confirm the existence of the provider and permit checks on documentary evidence. Providers failing the pre-registration check will not be able to re- apply for three months and will be liable for the cost of any further pre-registration checks.

A copy of the application form and guidance on the Immigration Rules that colleges must use can be viewed and downloaded as PDFs from this website. No assessment is made of the quality of education on offer from a college before it is accepted on to the Register.

Q6. Can a college advertise the fact that it is on the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) Register?

No. Registration on the Register of Education and Training Providers should not be seen by anyone as an endorsement of the college, or the quality of its courses.

Colleges should not state they are registered or approved by any Government Department and should not display any Government Department’s logo.

Colleges in breach of this condition of registration will be removed from the Register.

Q7. What does the Department do about reports that a college on the Register is bogus?

We take very seriously any allegations we receive about a possible bogus college on the Register.
In every case, the Home Office is asked to investigate the allegations. If the investigation upholds the allegations, then that college is removed from the Register; a number of colleges have been removed from the Register following complaints.

We can only remove colleges after thorough investigation; the Home Office investigates all allegations as quickly as possible.
If you want to report a college that you think is bogus, you should email DIUS with details of the organisation, together with your reasons for believing it to be bogus, including as much information as possible. The information will be passed to the Home Office.

Contact us

If you would like to write to us, please send your letter to:

Alternatively, you can email us at info@dius.gsi.gov.uk. We do not offer a telephone helpline; we can only respond to queries by email or by post. Please allow 15 working days for a reply to your correspondence.

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