Irish education fair in city from Nov. 26

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, NOV. 18. Enterprise Ireland, in association with the International Education Board, Ireland (IEBI), will host an educational fair, its second in the country, at the City's Taj Residency on November 26 and 27. The fair will be held between 9.30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

It will feature a series of workshops on Irish education. The main objective will be to highlight the academic and professional opportunities in Ireland and provide information on the various streams of education and vocational training available to students from India and across the globe.

Representatives from 14 institutes of technology, seven universities and three private colleges will address questions from potential students at the two-day fair. Courses on offer include Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Management, Medicine and Hotel Management.

While the under-graduate programmes are of three-year duration, the engineering degree is of four-year period. The medical course will go up to seven years. Students are expected to have an Irish bank account of $ 6,000.

Mr. Frank O' Connor, Manager, Education and Construction Services, Enterprise Ireland, explained the new Irish interest in Indian students. ``India is a growth market for students wishing to take degree courses overseas. Our first visit last year was extremely successful and encouraging and resulted in several hundred students signing up at Irish colleges. Indian students were well briefed on Ireland's economic success and helped to recognise the potential of studying in a booming economic environment.''

Currently, there are 800 Indian students, undergoing various courses in Ireland. This year, the colleges there have decided to have a good mix of nationalities with 70 per cent Irish and 30 per cent foreign students. ``They are looking at about 2,500 Indian students,'' Mr. Connor told The Hindu.

Tie-ups

Enterprise Ireland, he said, was also looking for mutually beneficial tie-ups with Indian educational institutions. The process, which had already been initiated in China, would soon be taken up in India. Already, the Enterprise had fixed up meetings with a few institutions here, he said.

Foreign students in Ireland, Mr. Connor said, were allowed to work 20 hours a week. The minimum wage per hour was 5.50 dollars per hour. Besides, the colleges and universities were helpful in finding on-campus accommodation facilities.

Among the varsities of Ireland are the University of Dublin; National University of Ireland; University College Dublin; National University of Ireland Dublin; University College Cork; National University of Ireland Galway and National University of Ireland Maynooth. Also on the list are the University of Limerick and the Dublin City University.

More details on the educational fair and Irish education could be obtained on email: (ireland@ndf.vsnl.net.in).

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