Foreign students can bail out Ireland

Foreign students could bail out Ireland, which is not getting adequate support for higher education. According to estimates of Enterprise Ireland, an Irish government agency which extends support to businesses in the country, higher education students could contribute more than €1 billion to the Irish economy. This governmental body is trying to attract more students from other countries, particularly Brazil, China, India, the US and the Middle East, among others. In fact, the number of foreign students arriving in Ireland has increased by more than 25 percent starting from the year 2012. The government body aims to increase the percentage of overseas students, who now comprise 8.8 percent of the total student population in the island nation, to 15 by 2020. The Dean of International Students at NUI Galway, Brian Hughes, said that without the presence of these foreign students, mainly in fields such as medicine, they would not have had enough money to hire lecturers. He also stressed the need for Ireland to produce engineers, innovators, scientists, etc. Irish Council for International Students Director, Sheila Power, said that universities in Ireland attract foreign students as they are perceived as safe and friendly, and charge fees that are lower when compared to those in countries like the US and the UK. The Irish Council for International Students is a student body acting as a support centre for foreign students in Ireland. Meanwhile, another attraction for foreign students is that they can work in Ireland on their student visas for a period of six months to one year following their graduation. Indian students can check out Ireland as one of the options for studying for some of the reasons cited above.