Sir, – Patrick Davey (July 17th) makes a helpful observation that the English funding model for universities is not clearly suited to our own higher education institutions.
However, his view that the English model has led to a “dependence on overseas students” is questionable. Moreover, his assertion that such students are “not asked to present with the necessary academic qualifications” is incorrect.
Ireland is a geographically peripheral country with a population base smaller than that of Barcelona. University education is unique among our public services in offering valuable and enriching transnational experiences for students, local communities, and Irish society at large. For generations, students from all over the globe have studied here, and in so doing have contributed to our awareness that – Garth Brooks’s obsession with us notwithstanding – there are many other places in the world apart from our own.
Irish universities operate very strict admissions criteria for international students, where academic qualifications are scrutinised closely and where rigorous standards are applied.
NUI Galway has 3,000 full-time international students from 110 countries around the world. They are most welcome. — Yours, etc,
Prof BRIAN HUGHES,
Dean of International
Affairs,
NUI Galway,
University Road,
Galway.