QQI publishes 2025 Annual Report

Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) has published its Annual Report for 2025, outlining a year of significant achievement and development for the agency across quality assurance, qualifications, learner awards and progression, international education and system-wide enhancement. 

Marking the first year of QQI's Statement of Strategy 2025-2027, Looking after learner interests, the report shows continued growth in learner certification, significant developments in quality assurance and qualifications policy. 2025 also saw significant progress in the strengthening of Ireland's international education reputation through TrustEd Ireland and enhanced engagement with learners, providers and stakeholders across Ireland and internationally.

In 2025, QQI certified 143,925 learners and issued 453,026 awards, representing a 4% increase in the number of learners certified compared with 2024. This continues a pattern of sustained growth in QQI certification activity and represents the third successive annual increase since 2022. Through NARIC Ireland, QQI also facilitated more than 41,500 qualification comparability statement downloads, supporting the recognition of international qualifications and learner mobility. 

Among the year's key achievements were: 

• the launch and first application cycle for TrustEd Ireland; 
• the publication of institutional review reports across both public and independent higher education sectors; 
• the validation of 17 micro-qualification programmes for education and training boards (ETBs); and
• significant progress in redeveloping the Irish Register of Qualifications (IRQ) as Ireland's authoritative source of information on quality-assured qualifications. 

QQI also continued its leadership role in promoting academic integrity through national and international networks, including through the National Academic Integrity Network (NAIN) which was first established by QQI in 2019.

Welcoming the report, Professor Irene Sheridan (Chairperson, QQI) observed that:

“QQI’s role in safeguarding the integrity of the Irish further and higher education and training system is a unique one. It is vital to our learners and an essential foundation for the social and economic wellbeing of the country. This annual report sets out how QQI, in line with its mandate and guided by its values, has worked in tandem with other agencies and institutions to respond to an increasingly complex education and training landscape. Whether it’s through international partnerships on academic integrity or holding a series of quality dialogue meetings across the country, the work undertaken by QQI during 2025 reflects its mission of preserving the quality, integrity and reputation of Ireland’s educational system at all levels.”

Marking the publication of the first annual report in her role as Chief Executive Officer of QQI, Dr Lynn Ramsey said:

“Trusted regulation is a cornerstone of QQI’s role and of its current strategy. This can be seen not only in the rigorous authorisation process established for those higher education institutions and English language education providers applying for the TrustEd Ireland mark, but also in the use of focused reviews to assess the effectiveness of providers’ quality assurance procedures and how well they are being implemented. By highlighting these and many other initiatives undertaken by QQI in 2025, this newly published report demonstrates our commitment to maintaining and enhancing public trust and confidence in Ireland’s further and higher education and training systems.”

The outcomes and achievements set out in this annual report reflect QQI's ongoing commitment to protecting learner interests, maintaining public confidence in qualifications and quality assurance, and supporting a flexible, responsive and internationally respected tertiary education system.