Representatives of Irish universities and colleges found themselves overwhelmed by thousands of Chinese students when they made their first joint international promotion of third-level education at an education exhibition in Beijing at the weekend.
"We were mobbed," said Mr Frank O'Connor, section manager for educational services in Enterprise Ireland. "They came in waves," commented Mr Hugh Gough, Dean of International Affairs at University College Dublin. "If 1 per cent who came to the stands sign up we would be overwhelmed," predicted Mr Michael Garvey, head of Enterprise Ireland for China.
"There is huge interest in Ireland," said Mr Gough. "Almost everyone wants to do a Master of Business Administration - though we had one ethnomusicologist interested in Irish music who wants to do an MA in this subject. We also had some inquiries from students with very good advanced engineering and advanced biotechnology."
"This is the best opportunity Ireland ever had in education training," said Mr Raymond Kearns, president of Portobello College in Dublin. "China is like a flower in spring, blossoming out. This is the time to come to China."
The Irish universities are making their first united foray into a fast-growing market where other English-speaking countries have already established themselves. Mr Ivan Filby of TCD said that New Zealand, with similar demographics and number of universities, had made education its 5th most important industry by its organised approach to the overseas market.
Mr Jim McEntee of the Carlow Institute of Technology said that bringing highly-motivated Chinese students into the Irish college system had a beneficial effect. "It puts it up to the others."
The lower cost of IT and medicine courses is making Ireland a popular destination for students in mainland China and Hong Kong. People realised that "the Emerald Isle has leapt from the agricultural age directly into the information age" - as Mr Wing Ng, director of the Irish Trade and Technology Board for Hong Kong and South China, put it. The South China Morning Post said the Hong Kong Government had identified Ireland as a model and preferred partner for its development of high-tech industry.
About 2,000 Chinese students are already in Ireland, mostly at second level to learn English. Each student is reckoned to be worth £10-15,000 a year to the economy in fees and living costs.