Education boss worried by drop in numbers of foreign students

By Katherine Donnelly. A HIGHER education boss has questioned whether third-level colleges are doing enough to welcome foreign students, as new figures show a fall in numbers coming to study in Ireland. The number arriving from abroad on full-time courses has dropped in the last five years from just under 12,000 to below 10,600 – and continues to fall. 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. Higher Education Authority (HEA) chief executive Tom Boland (inset) said "the stagnation" in full-time international student numbers "is a cause for worry". More...