Ireland launches full scholarship

The €10,000 award covers living expenses and includes a full tuition fee waiver for a taught master’s

Bright students have a new, full scholarship available to them from Ireland. The Government of Ireland and the Irish Universities’ Association (IUA) recently launched the €10,000 award which covers living expenses and a full tuition fee waiver for students selected for full-time taught masters courses.

Announced during a three-city Irish education fair in India this month, the scholarship is for candidates who have admission offers from an Irish university. In a bid to grow the ranks of non-European Union students to 25,500 by 2015 and recognising the importance of India as a source country, individual universities too are providing financial help to Indian aspirants. The population of Indian students in Ireland has shown some upward movement of late (while the contingents from many countries including China, Singapore and Malaysia have shrunk) — 1125 in 2011 from 858 in 2010.

According to Sinead Lucey, international education manager, IUA, “Choosing Ireland is a very smart choice for students in areas such as IT, pharmaceuticals and food where there are not enough graduates to fill the jobs. In fact, Ireland has been looking to India to fill some of these jobs. Also, the number of multinational companies in Ireland is something you won’t get in other countries and they continue to create job opportunities for skilled graduates.”

After finishing their courses, international students in Ireland are allowed a year to find a job. After four years, they can apply for residency and in five years, citizenship, said Lucey.

Ireland's varsities
* Trinity College Dublin, www.tcd.ie
* University College Dublin, www.ucd.ie
* University College Cork, www.ucc.ie
* Dublin City University, www.dcu.ie
* National University of Ireland Maynooth, www.nuim.ie
* National University of Ireland Galway, www.nuig.ie
* University of Limerick, www.ul.ie

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