MEASURES TO encourage more students to do part of their study abroad are to be considered by the Higher Education Authority, a conference has been told.
Michael Kelly, chairman of the policy and funding body for third- level education, said he would like to see more students avail of opportunities provided by schemes such as Erasmus. He was speaking in Dublin yesterday at a conference on encouraging mobility in education.
Some 3,000 students come here from abroad every year while about 1,800 Irish students go abroad.
A further 200 third-level staff in Ireland also take part in the programme.
Mr Kelly said he would like to examine the reasons for students not taking up the opportunity to travel abroad.
"Moving to another country can be a daunting prospect for a young person," he said.
"They have to leave their family and adapt to a new culture and a new language. It can also place a financial burden on the student and their family."
Mr Kelly said the Higher Education Authority now wanted to "look at the factors which might inhibit more Irish students taking up this opportunity and to see what alleviating measures might be possible".
He said mobility should be encouraged at all levels of education.
"Establishing the concept of mobility at an early age through initiatives such as school exchange programmes is equally important in developing young people and their awareness of other cultures.
"Mobility at postgraduate and post-doctoral level is something that also needs to be encouraged."
Mr Kelly added: "The mobility of graduates, staff and researchers is key to the whole process of building a better European higher education sector and a more cohesive Europe."
