Education boss worried by foreign student numbers fall

Higher Education Authority Chief Executive Tom Boland has questioned whether tertiary institutions are doing enough to welcome foreign students, as new figures show a fall in numbers coming to study in Ireland, writes Katherine Donnelly for the http://Independent.ie.

The number of students arriving from abroad for full-time courses has dropped in the past five years from just under 12,000 to below 10,600. The decline, which follows a decade of growth up to 2008, flies in the face of a government campaign selling Ireland as a world-class education destination. Boland said the “stagnation" in full-time international student numbers "is a cause for worry".

While Ireland is attractive as an English-speaking country and a gateway to Europe, there may be several reasons for a fall in the number of students coming from abroad, including the relatively low ranking of Irish universities in international tables. But Boland questioned whether "we are doing enough to integrate non-Irish students into all activities".
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