MORE THAN 1,000 students from Saudi Arabia are to study at three of the State’s institutes of technology over the next four years under a scheme announced yesterday.
An agreement between Athlone, Galway and Waterford institutes of technology and Saudi Arabia’s technical vocational training corporation (TVTC) will involve students undertaking a one-year English language course.
This will be followed by three-year degree courses in areas such as engineering, renewable energy, software, business, accounting, financial services and tourism.
Athlone IT president Prof Ciarán Ó Catháin said the agreement followed several years of building up a relationship between the Middle East and the three institutes of technology.
“It is also an important milestone in signalling the quality of Irish higher education to an international audience and showcasing our growing reputation as an innovation island,” he added.
“This will enrich the educational experiences of all students in Athlone, Galway and Waterford and provide a global learning and research environment on each of our campuses.”
Waterford IT and Galway IT will each have 80 students, while 110 will attend Athlone IT, from next September. There will be a similar intake of students over the following three years.
The students will be funded under the King Abdullah scholarship programme, with provision for their wives to also attend the institutes of technology and study English in their first year.
Prof Ó Catháin said Athlone IT had registered 25 Saudi students last September and their experience had been overwhelmingly positive. “They have adjusted to life in the Irish midlands and have integrated very well into the local community,” he added.
Galway IT president Marion Coy said Saudi Arabia wished to develop technical education, learning from the Irish IT model.
A spokesman for Athlone IT said yesterday the programme had no connection with the controversial scheme for students at the new Citywest Institute of Education in Dublin.
Last weekend, the ministry of higher education in Saudi Arabia denied that it had agreed to send hundreds of students to the new private college. This followed an announcement by the Mansfield Group, headed by businessman Jim Mansfield, that it had secured a contract with the ministry under which 750 Saudi students would attend its new institute.
In a statement on the ministry of education’s website, ministry deputy for scholarship affairs Dr Abdullah Al Mosa said that the Citywest institute was “not recommended by the ministry and never was contacted”.
