The Internationalisation of Irish Higher Education

Marie Clarke; Linda Yang; David Harmon

There has been an explicit policy commitment to facilitate and support the development of Ireland as an international education centre for over twenty years (Clancy, 2015). Since 1987, Ireland has participated in the European Commission’s Erasmus exchange programme, was a signatory to the Bologna Declaration in 1999 and set up a National Framework of Qualifications in 2003 thereby establishing a key system-level infrastructure for supporting international student mobility (Mernagh, 2010). Ireland has supported international student mobility through Erasmus for more than two decades, during which 44,944 students from Ireland have pursued an Erasmus study or work placement in one of 30 countries (HEA, 2016). International cooperation in teaching and administration has been supported through the Erasmus, Erasmus Mundus and Tempus programmes, now amalgamated into Erasmus+ (HEA, 2016). The publication of Investing in Global Relationships: Ireland’s International Education Strategy 2010-2015 set out the first coherent government strategy around internationalisation and was the first of its kind in Europe to set targets (Finn and Darmody, 2017). The majority of the actions focused on increasing the recruitment of international students and was successful in exceeding set targets. The recently published strategy document, Irish Educated, Globally Connected, an International Education Strategy for Ireland 20162020 is specifically linked to the National Skills Strategy 2025, the Foreign Languages Strategy, the Trade, Tourism and Investment Strategy and labour market strategies. The aim of the strategy is to increase the numbers of international students and researchers coming to Irish HEIs, increase outward mobility for Irish students and academics/researchers and connect the benefits of internationalisation with enterprises in support of national economic ambitions. The Higher Education System Performance 2014-17 includes globally competitive and internationally oriented institutions as one of its seven pillars. Despite operating during a period of prolonged cuts to resources, Irish HEIs have been very successful in their internationalisation efforts. Between 2000/01 and 2012/13 the number of international students attending Irish HEIs increased from 4,184 to 10,981 (Finn and Darmody, 2017). The Irish higher education sector has performed very well in increasing the recruitment of international students from a diverse range of countries such as China, India, Brazil, the U.S.A. and Saudi Arabia (HEA, 2016). In terms of outward mobility, the sector also enjoyed success. In 2011/12 ten per cent of NFQ level 8 graduates studied or undertook a placement abroad, a mobility rate which was in line with the European average (HEA, 2016). Internationalisation forms a key component of institutional mission statements and international offices are now well established on higher education campuses. However, relatively little is known about how internationalisation is developing in Irish higher education institutions. This study explored the extent to which Irish tertiary education institutions have become internationalised and the range of strategies and approaches developed to attract and retain international students. The study focused on institutional strategies, curriculum, teaching and learning and the provision of supports for international students at institutional level. Combining survey data with interviews conducted with directors of international offices, faculty and students, both international and Irish, this is the first study of its kind to explore internationalisation in Irish higher education from a range of different perspectives. The study builds on international literature in the field and on previous studies conducted in New Zealand which addressed these issues.

The Internationalisation of Irish Higher Education

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