Foreign students worth €400m to economy

More than 35,000 foreign students in Ireland will inject 400m euro into the economy this year, it emerged today.

Undergraduates from countries like China, India, Pakistan and Malaysia are typically studying courses in medicine, science, engineering and hotel management at various colleges and universities.

The Higher Education Authority is currently compiling figures for the 2006/2007 academic year but estimates suggest up to 36,000 international students enrolled in courses with a potential benefit to the economy of €400m.

The Department of Education and Enterprise Ireland have worked hard in recent years to promote the country as a centre of excellence for education.

Education fairs are being held for the first time by Enterprise Ireland in the Philippines and Vietnam in coming months in a bid to attract more students to Ireland.

A networking event in Kuala Lumpur this weekend is being attended by representatives from UCD, UCC, NUIG, TCD, Waterford Institute of Technology and the Shannon College of Hotel Management.

“Ireland offers a safe and secure environment for international students and by international standards it is un-crowded, safe and friendly,” said Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.

“There is also a plentiful availability of part-time work and the possibility of work after graduation.”

Enterprise Ireland official Frank O’Connor added: “We sometimes forget that Ireland and Britain are the only English-speaking countries in the EU and this is attractive to students,”

“However because of that, we are also competing with other English-speaking nations like the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

“The proportion of foreign students helps indigenous Irish students integrate and get to know their language, religion, culinary tastes etc. We are also invariably cheaper than Britain or the US.”

The inflow of foreign students is also reversing falling numbers in courses like science, IT, engineering and hotel management.

Ms Hanafin said long-term investment in the education system has helped to make Ireland one of the top destinations for foreign direct investment in the world.

“Ireland’s higher education system offers high quality undergraduate, post-graduate and research opportunities,” she said.

“The Irish government is investing heavily in the capacity of our third level institutions to provide quality graduates and to produce world quality research for our developing knowledge economy, particularly in key sectors such as ICT, biotechnology and nanotechnology.”