A recent seminar on meeting the needs of Chinese students in Ireland discussed the development of support systems for the more than 1,000 Chinese students attending English-language courses around the State. Some 3,000 Chinese students have completed language courses here since January l998, with many of them going on to third-level studies. An agreement on scientific and technological co-operation between Ireland and China, signed in September last year, should help the lot of such students. It provides a formal framework in which co-operation arrangements can be developed between scientific institutions, research centres, higher-education institutions and companies in both countries.