15: Closure Number Seven: ICOT Closes in Ireland. Prepare for More.

ICOT College has closed its Dublin and Cork campuses after 17 years. It was removed from ILEP, Ireland’s list of schools allowed to enrol visa students, and lost its challenge in the High Court. It is the seventh major school closure we have tracked in 2026, and the fifth in Ireland since June.

In this episode:

• The 2026 list: Student Campus Limerick, EC English, Erin College, ILAC and Tamwood, Limerick Language Centre, BSC Education and ICOT. For each one: when it closed, where, and why.
• Three causes: cash problems (EC, BSC), action by regulators (Erin, Limerick Language Centre, ICOT), or both (ILAC).
• Why Ireland, and why now:
  • Erin College’s visa-refused students went from 33 in 2023 to 456 in 2025.
  • Schools must refund visa-refused students within 20 days. A High Court judge found “a fundamental disregard” of the rule that this money must be protected.
  • A Pakistani agency is still waiting for €50,000 paid for 29 students.
• ILEP is ending: Ireland is replacing it with TrustEd Ireland. Only five English language schools have the new mark so far.
• A warning: the UK refusal rate is 4.9% against a new 5% red line, Canada’s language sector says it is “in a state of crisis”, and Australia had its worst visa approval month on record. We see no sign that this is the bottom.
• What agents should ask every Irish partner: have you applied for TrustEd? Where are student deposits held? Who is your learner protection insurer?

Sources:

• ICOT closure notice (ICOT College, October 2026)
• Cork Independent: Students in distress following language college closures
• Irish Times: English language school owner gave materially misleading statements to court
• Irish Examiner: Language schools warn of closure threat in court row over visas
• Limerick Post: Another English language school in Limerick announces closure
• GoStudy: English school closures in Ireland
• The PIE News: EC English closes all global schools
• The PIE News: Students pay the price for ILAC’s sudden collapse
• The PIE News: BSC Education enters liquidation
• BSC Education filings (winding-up petition and accounts)
• ICEF Monitor: TrustEd Ireland awards to first English language schools
• QQI: TrustEd Ireland for English language providers
• The PIE News: UK student visa refusal rate hits 4.9%
• ICEF Monitor: Canada’s language sector in “state of crisis”
• Times Higher Education: Australian student visa approvals hit record low