According to the 2025 Report on Studying in Ireland, Chinese mainland students represented 10.9 percent of the international student population in Irish higher education last year, making China the third-largest source of foreign students in Ireland, following India and the United States. This report was jointly released by Chinese education consultancy EIC Education, Education in Ireland, and University College Dublin at the Irish embassy in Beijing on Wednesday. It provides guidance on application trends for studying in Ireland, popular programs, scholarships, and job prospects.
Sunny Sun, EIC director of UK & Ireland Program Management, said, "Its purpose is to offer overall guidance and support to Chinese students for studying in Ireland."
Statistics from the Irish visa office showed that the number of visas granted to Chinese students to study in Ireland hit 3,560 last year, the highest in a decade and a 10.52 percent rise from 2023. The number of Chinese students studying for higher education in Ireland increased steadily from 2015 to 2019, dropped from 2020 to 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and bounced back in 2023, the report said.
EIC Education statistics showed that for the last six years, electronic and computer engineering has been the most popular program among Chinese mainland applicants, which received 14.35 percent of applications. This was then followed by business programs like finance (8.72 percent), marketing (7.46 percent), management (5.77 percent), and accounting (5.53 percent). The reason for the huge interest in electronic and computer engineering courses is because Ireland has a highly developed information technology industry.
The report also discussed the reasons Chinese students select Ireland as a study destination. According to the report, 59.1 percent of the respondents mentioned that international recognition of diplomas from Irish universities was a major reason for them. Besides, 55.7 percent were attracted by the policies on work visas and employment opportunities locally, and 42.6 percent found the cost of studying in Ireland to be comparatively low.
One of the past students, Eason, pursued his master's degree at Trinity College Dublin from 2019 to 2020. He said that the main reason for his decision to study in Ireland was its affordability and the fact that there are bountiful scholarships available. "I spent a total of just over 200,000 yuan ($27,443) for the year, including living costs and tuition fees," he said. He further added that Chinese corporations such as Huawei and Tencent have set up offices in Ireland.
