THERE WAS "a massive opportunity" for Ireland in attracting Chinese students to attend our third-level institutions, Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe said yesterday.
He was speaking to Irish journalists in Shanghai where he is deputising for Taoiseach Brian Cowen at the head of a trade and education delegation which is said to be one of the largest to travel from Ireland and includes representatives from some 90 commercial firms and institutions of learning.
"If you look at the Chinese access to third level, it stands at about 22 per cent. We have an access level of almost 60 per cent," Mr O'Keeffe said.
"The Chinese do not see it as a brain drain out of China - they see it as an opportunity for their students to get degrees of the highest calibre in technology, in commerce, in finance and in sciences. Ireland, obviously, they see as a country that has been extremely successful in selling itself as a nation with the highest calibre of degree and qualification."
It was predicted there would be a 33 per cent growth in the number of students leaving China for education abroad. There were currently some 3,500 Chinese students in Ireland. Mr O'Keeffe will take part in a workshop and other events today that reflect the already-existing level of co-operation between such institutions as University College Cork and University College Dublin and their counterparts in Shanghai.
