Indian students in Ireland event, Dublin Castle 1st March

When you think of a student party, Dublin Castle may not automatically come to mind, unless, perhaps, you are an Indian student studying in Ireland. That's because, Thursday March 1st, Dublin Castle played host to a significant reception to welcome and celebrate Indian students in Ireland and it was a fantastic success.
 
The event, which was attended by the Minister for Training and Skills Mr Ciaran Cannon and the Indian Ambassador to Ireland H.E. Mr Debashish Chakravarti, was organised by Eductation in Ireland to celebrate the contribution Indian students are making by choosing to study in Ireland.
 
Addressing the event, HE Chakravarti thanked the 100 plus Indian students in attendance and reconfirmed that for them studying in Ireland will reap huge benefits on the international stage.

Minister Cannon further acknowledged the mutually beneficial relationship between Ireland and India. While citing that Ireland has the highest participation in higher education in Europe he also pointed out that ‘as a small trading economy our future prosperity relies on how well connected we are to the future powerhouses of the world economy such as India.’ This is why is said from an Irish government prospective, ‘education must be at the heart of our connection with India but we simply aren’t well enough known in India so we need current Indian students to go out and tell people why Ireland is such a great place to study.’
 
He then announced the upcoming education mission to India in May and the immediate establishment of the Education in Ireland, Indian student ambassador programme. With this programme students will become advocates for studying in Ireland and will write regular blogs on a host of important topics to other students considering Ireland such as, why choose Ireland, settling in, day to day life to more specific academic topics like course content, career prospects etc
From time to time they will also do some small film pieces which will be very informative to other prospective students. Many students came forward on the evening to nominate themselves for the programme and many more followed up by email afterwards so the programme should be a huge success.
 
After that is was straight into the Irish dancing, food, drinks, craic agus coel (fun & music) and indeed it was a great evening of entertainment had by all.  
 
Alan Finneran, Education in Ireland, March 7th 2012