Around 80 students at Dublin Business School's Applied Social Care course remain in limbo today after learning they will not be eligible to register as social workers with regulator CORU when they complete their studies.
Most have invested several thousand euro in their education and their online meeting with the college on Monday night failed to resolve the dispute.
Sinn Féin's higher education spokesperson Rose Conway-Walsh yesterday told RTÉ's Drivetime she had discussed possible financial sanctions against DBS with the Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris.
Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland today, Mr Harris said that "DBS is a private college and CORU the health regulator is an independent regulator".
However, Mr Harris said he is "extremely concerned about how students have been treated in relation to this matter".
He said he spoke to the president of Dublin Business School this week and he thinks it is "absolutely essential that DBS proceed with their plans to meet individually, one on one, with each of the students and explore all of the options that are available".
There are some options available for some students, he said.
"It may be possible to transfer to other accredited courses," Mr Harris said.
For other students, it may be possible to use the time between now and joining the register to clock up enough professional experience to join the register," he added.
Mr Harris said that students in DBS thought they were signing up for something that turned out to be very different and there will be a need for DBS to recompense the students regardless of the outcome.
When asked if those students should receive a refund, the minister said: "Well I certainly think that has to be on the table. I made that very clear that that's my view to the president in DBS.
"I note in their own statement that DBS say that that certainly is on the table."
Mr Harris said that there are currently three options.
"One is that there is a period of time between now and having to join the register that if people do enough professional practice and experience, they can be entitled to join the register.
"Secondly, this idea that if you are in the middle of your studies and you have had enough and you don't want anymore uncertainty and you want to transfer to an accredited course, that could be another.
"And the third is that possibility of some bridging mechanism or some bridging course."
Mr Harris said that because all students are at different stages of their studies, that one-on-one meeting between DBS and those students is important and he believes that will start this week.
