At Kilkenomics last year, one eminent economist from India was asked about what type of industries and activities he thought Ireland might foster to get ahead in the future.
What industry could we host in Ireland that would take advantage of the rapid changes in the global economy? Did we have any comparative advantage?
He answered that it was obvious to him: education is where we should be concentrating. He recalled having Irish priests teaching him in Delhi in the 1970s and that these guys had left a significant positive impression on him.
“This is what you are good at,” he quipped.
When Bono and Bob Geldof were in Africa at the time of Live Aid, they told stories of having been welcomed all over the place by Irish nuns and priests. They said they didn’t feel like foreigners because the missionaries had been there well before them. The missionaries blazed a trail.
It is not politically correct and certainly not hip to laud them or recognise what they did, but these people projected an image of Ireland out into the world and part of that image was a nation of teachers.
One of the historic echoes of the drive by Irish religious orders into education all over the world is this recognition of Irish people as teachers. When I was in school, retired priests who had spent years in Africa, Asia or Latin America used to regale us with stories of the missions, what they had seen and who they had met.
These experiences are real and have a lasting impression on the people affected. For example, the brilliant Spanish footballer Xabi Alonso speaks fondly of his time in Kells learning English and his time playing GAA!
These memories are part of the national brand and the brand is powerful. The missionaries are gone but their echo remains.
This echo gives us a launch pad from which to build a new industry for the 21st century. That industry is education and learning. And it’s not just missionaries who have helped create a image of Ireland as a place to learn. Today, the global education market is worth $4.4trillion. It is poised to grow significantly in the next five years. The e-learning market is projected to grow by 23pc between now and 2017. In dollar terms, this was worth $166.5bn in 2012 and will be worth $255bn in 2017. Irish companies such as Alison.com are market leaders in this business.
In 2010, the Government launched ‘Investing in Global Relations – Ireland’s International Education Strategy 2010-2015’. This is a plan to lure international students to Ireland. It should be dusted off and efforts refocused on making it work.
The three primary aims of the plan were: To increase overall international student numbers by 50pc to 38,000; To boost the number of English language students by 25pc to 120,000; To increase from 23pc to 35pc the proportion of full-time international students undertaking postgraduate programmes.
This is all achievable.
Other small, English-speaking countries have done this with some significant success. One such country is New Zealand. It has had an ‘Education as an Export’ strategy in place since the 1990s and here’s what it has achieved. In 1998 less than 4pc of NZ students were foreign-born. In Ireland that figure was 5pc. In 2008, 24.4pc of NZ students were foreign-born, while in Ireland it was a trifling 7.2pc.
The Aussies are onto this too. They know that they are Asian now. In the past, the Aussies and Kiwis regarded themselves as Europeans stuck in the wrong part of the world. In recent years, they have embraced Asia and repositioned themselves, and not just in education.
However, the results in education have been spectacular.
Now in Australia, 25pc of students are foreign-born and the education export sector is valued at €8.9bn, making it the third-largest exporting sector in the entire economy.
Of the foreign-born students in Ireland, a whopping 40pc are from Anglophone countries, whereas it’s 20pc in NZ and 10pc in US/Canada/UK. This is something we need to address.
With regard to Indian/Chinese students, in the UK, one in five students is Indian or Chinese. In Canada, it is one in four while in the US some claim it’s one in three. Australia and NZ claim 40pc of students are either Indian or Chinese, whereas in Ireland it’s 12pc – the same as Sweden.
Why such an anomaly? Students from India and China make up the lion’s share of those wanting to come here, yet they are not getting in.
Looking at visa approval rates, Ireland and the UK are about the same, at 29pc and 28pc. But the UK receives 33 times as many applications as Ireland. Looking at applications from particular regions, the UK receives 150 times as many applicants from North Africa and the Middle East than we do.
That said, the number of Asian students studying in Ireland has increased by over 400pc since the year 2000. Over the coming years, these countries will get stronger and their middle class will expand. The parents of these middle class kids will spend money trying to get a “Western, English-speaking” education for their kids. This will be a bonanza for us, if we seize the opportunity.
At a time when the global economy is so competitive and when our tax policies are subject to so much scrutiny, a new big idea is surely one worth pitching for?
Rarely can there be one that is so obvious for Ireland. It’s time to grab this opportunity with both hands.
Kilkenny here I come.
Forgot to ‘subscribe’ in all the excitement.
Sorry, David, but there’s one fatal flaw in your argument and that’s that everybody in Ireland aren’t teachers!
Saints & Scholars, but no business, look at all the english language schools for instance, closing down in Dublin with financial difficulties.
There is an abundance of empty houses and apartments all over the West of Ireland together with many vacant shop buildings around which to build an international college of languages. There is even an international airport at Charlestown where Ryanair would only be happy to put on extra flights. All we need is the will and the vision.
Sounds like a good plan, David. However, what I noticed is that generally Asian countries are attracting a lot English speaking teachers in all disciplines. These teachers are getting the English, Scottish, Australian, New Zealand, South African and/or Irish equivalent of salaries plus two flights home. It is worthwhile for them as the cost of living is very cheap. Rental accommodation is a quarter or a fifth of the rents in Ireland, petrol is generally much cheaper, and food is about a tenth of the price compare to at home in Ireland. Apart from all that you don’t need to… Read more »
Interesting letter from the ECB.
Debt is clearly being used as the fulcrum to apply leverage to restructure our social democratic republics & societies into pivatized neoliberal competitive markets.
This is a hostile corporate take-over or coup
With two pricipal aims
1. To plunder national treasuries and privatize national resources
2. To remake the world in the image of the corporation; to corporatize the human world and human life. This requires the subjugation of national governments and legal systems to corporate fiat – which is being done via the TTIP and other so-called free-trade agreements being negotiated in secret.
How about educating the local population about the economic benefits available to the country when people understand why they are economic serfs and broke. Education starts at home. Get the monetary system in order and the economy strengthens, inflation halts, and general prosperity reigns. Then the world beats a drum to your door. That is worth teaching the world. Ireland saved civilization in the dark ages and could do so again. However I suspect that soon everyone’s second language may be mandarin!!! The economic missionaries around the world are the Chinese, buying resources and making business deals around the world.… Read more »
“Nevertheless, an honest person would think that the incompatibility of high demand with constrained supply and falling price would arouse the interest of economists, the financial media, financial authorities, and congressional committees.” Paul Craig Roberts “The answer is that the US political and financial system is engulfed with corruption and criminality. ” PCR. “The authorities have created a financial system totally out of sync with reality. When the authorities can no longer keep the house of cards standing, the collapse will be extreme.” PCR “The divergence of markets from economic reality disturbs neither public policymakers nor economists, who promote the… Read more »
Markets do not lie and the statistics quoted are correct and those are facts and unlikely to change in the near future . There are reasons : The Irish do not speak proper English especially in Dublin ; and Irish Laws are defective to operate and oversees students will continue to be defrauded without recourse ; and Irish Government trade promotion to China have No Credibility and the Chinese should wake up to this reality and seek extraordinary taxpayers guarantees before choosing ; and Oversees students should only pay after the course has been completed satisfactorily . ~( Chinese Consular… Read more »
When a country has its own currency it can cut its own deal with China. Canada to become first trading hub in the Americas to have a JUAN centered trading hub. US dollar is bypassed.
BC already knows it is Asian and wants the hub in Vancouver. Vancouver is the world financial centre for mining financing.
“If you can read Chinese this is a little less of a mystery. In Mandarin many documents of Chinese officials and the State Council have been released wherein the importance of gold for the Chinese economy is emphasized. In these publications it’s clear China recognizes gold for its monetary value, as part of their financial industry and essential for a future economic landscape. How exactly the Chinese will play their cards I don’t know, but we will surely find out in the years ahead.”
https://www.bullionstar.com/blog/koos-jansen/beijing-financial-forum-new-global-financial-order-essential/
Anyone wondering why Ireland’s intake of foreign students is so poor would do well to listen to the lady that was on RTE’S Morning Ireland (sometime around 7.15 if anyone wants to try and get it on playback). She referred to the scandals surrounding Shelbourn college ‘and other colleges’ over payment of fees and treatment of students. A remedy suggested was use of escrow payments regulated by Govt. ‘Irelands reputation is being severely tarnished by these colleges’ Read recently (could have been here) that a very important factor in companies considering foreign re-location. investment is the application of the rule… Read more »
@Mike@shane Speaking of Jean Claudes,Trichet refuses to attend a [CRUCIAL] Banking Enquiry eh! What a shaaam!!He knows the outcome of course,hint; not in his [ECB’s] favour ! We get saddled,[ a millstone around our necks more like! ] with ~E65Billion of odious private banking debt, but no ‘take-backs’, no ‘do-overs’ ..Hubris filled,bully-overlord Trichet thinks he can just ‘hop-scotch’ over the Irish people,the serfs… No debt sharing arrangement is even mooted!!It’s all some sorta playground game to our fine-day-friend-Trichet and his minions and they’re cocksure they hold all the schoolground marbles! Now as bad as the letters are, I wonder what… Read more »
If you have 30 seconds,maybe check out the video in this link and witness count-de-pensions-Inda drive his chariot through the ‘disgruntled’ serfs and witness the lady in the striped t-shirt being man-handled by the two pups in uniform!!!Who does they think they are?!! Bloody disgrace!
http://www.independent.ie/videos/irish-news/video-gardai-forced-to-physically-restrain-protesters-as-they-attempt-to-confront-taoiseach-30723114.html
‘Poste Restante’ Mid Atlantic now plays the forum for the agenda of how the Trichet’s Letter is interpreted . EU plutocrats conform with the interpretation of ECB responses and the intent seems justified .Mainland EU is firmness of purpose and blames the idiocracy of the Central Bank in Ireland .Its an objective view and will probably be seen to hold itself without sway in due course. Hiberno English with a drawl accent from USA will attempt to prove that ECB was broke anyway and is blamed for castigating the Irish as the lamb to the slaughter .Many more talking shops… Read more »
An article for that’ll give you a tickle in your throat! http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/11/what-remains-berlin-wall-201411663821620612.html Figuratively speaking,there’s a pause right now,in history,as we reach the top swing of the global financial markets pendulum,when,after an infinitesimal moment,potential energy uncoils into kinetic energy. As energy is always saved spirally in nature,will this phase transition, be a change in direction away from a burning debt-fuelled world,on the brink of economic collapse and chaos,to a new archetype,a rebirth,an up-shift in humanity’s evolution,striving for that Universal harmony from the minimum to the maximum? If not,the phase shift will be expressed by people remaining sorry hostages to oligarchy,where we… Read more »
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-07/greenspans-stunning-admission-gold-currency-no-fiat-currency-including-dollar-can-ma
The ultimate admission that the best currency is………..