A total of 19 Irish universities, third-level colleges and English language schools are participating in an international higher education fair which opened in China on Saturday.

The fair, which was attended at the weekend by the Minister for Education, Michael Woods, who is on an official visit to China, gives Ireland an opportunity to promote itself as a centre of excellence for learning - comparable to anywhere in the world.

Sponsored by the Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange, the fair takes in five cities. The Irish mission is participating at three of the locations. In addition to Beijing, the Irish representatives will be in Qingdo today and tomorrow and Shanghai this Friday and Saturday.

The potential value of the exercise for Ireland is illustrated by the fact that the estimated income from non-EU third-level students for this academic year is £20 million.

China is by far the world's largest overseas student market, and is already aggressively targeted by all the major English speaking countries. The number of overseas students from China is expected to grow as political and economic reform continues there.

The Chinese event has attracted more than 160 education institutions and universities from 22 countries. Irish institutions represented are Athlone Institute of Technology, Dublin Business School, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Education and Exchange in Europe, English Language Institute, Executive and Professional Training Institute Ltd, Galway Cultural Institute, Griffith College, ICON International, Institute of Education/Portobello College, Carlow IT, International Education Board, International House, Dublin, NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, Shannon College of Hotel Management, UCD, University of Limerick and DCU.