Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yes, it is. The previous Government and, in particular, the then Minister of State, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe, recognised that the promotion of education in Ireland on a global scale needed to be undertaken by a dedicated agency. There was a commitment to do this in the programme for Government. He saw Enterprise Ireland in operation in China in promoting Ireland and Irish companies. A decision was made which, in opposition, I welcomed and supported that we did not need another semi-State agency and that one which had expertise in promoting Irish enterprises in the broadest sense should be utilised. With that intent, Enterprise Ireland has a dedicated promoting education in Ireland unit in East Point Business Park. There is a target figure to effectively double the number of foreign students coming to Ireland. Some 32,000 students are registered in Irish higher education institutions, including 7,000 who are studying as part of Irish programmes overseas. There is continued development of the education in Ireland brand in our priority markets, including the United States, China, India, Brazil and the Gulf states. This has included a particular focus on social media and the use of student ambassadors, which is innovative. Some weeks ago there was the launch of a new Government of Ireland international scholarship aimed at attracting top students from priority and emerging markets. We are strengthening intergovernmental relationships with different countries. The Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, has made a number of visits to target countries and there is ongoing progress on the strategy being monitored by a high level international education unit chaired by the Department. The university that has the highest level of foreign students is University College Dublin. It has a total of 25,000 students, 5,000 of whom are foreign students. I encourage Deputies to go and have a look at its programme. It has a student support centre for foreign students. The attrition rate can be high because students are away from their own cultural area and possibly studying in a different language. The drop-out rate has been identified as costly in every sense of the word - costly for the parents and student involved but also for the institution that has gone out of its way to attract such students. Therefore, supporting systems to keep students engaged and meet their cultural needs is an important factor. Int his regard, UCD has a very good unit.