Chinese pupils' visit a first for Irish schools

THE first group of second-level Chinese students to study English in Ireland will arrive in Cork later this year.

The visit by students from schools in Shanghai, which was twinned with Cork last year, is being arranged by the Marketing English in Ireland (MEI) group - the national representative body for the country's English language teaching schools.

Valerie Cullen, MEI spokesperson and managing director of the Cork English College, said she hoped the twinning relationship would result in many more such visits. She was speaking after a major MEI showcase of Ireland's English language teaching education system to almost 80 international education agents in Cork last week.