TCD to target foreign students

The country’s top university plans to rely on more funding from foreign and online students to reduce its reliance on public funding, a part of its €600m five-year strategy.

Trinity College Dublin aims to reduce the proportion of taxpayer investment in its annual budget of more than €300m from half to 40% by 2019.

The strategic plan proposes to more than double the proportion of all students from outside the EU to 18%, rising to almost 3,000. It is also planned to engage 1,000 students on online programmes, but TCD says these expansions will not affect study opportunities for Irish and EU students.