Ireland launches trusted agents scheme in India

The Irish Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, has introduced a new trusted agents programme in India as part of a plan to promote Irish higher education in the country. The announcement was made at a workshop in New Delhi involving 11 Irish third-level institutions and 25 Indian education agents.

Minister Bruton said “More than 100,000 Indian students travel overseas for education every year. Around 1,000 of these currently come to Ireland. [This] initiative is part of an ambitious strategy by this government to achieve a significant increase in that number, thus making a major contribution to achieving growth in employment and in the economy generally.”

The trusted agent scheme is part of Ireland’s ‘Investing in Global Relationships: Ireland’s International Education Strategy, 2010-2015’. The project will see Enterprise Ireland offices overseas developing lists of trusted agents and designated Ireland-specialist agents entitled to use the Education Ireland brand. Training tools for agents including agent packs and online training will be developed.

The pilot programme in India, supported by a marketing and communications fund of four million rupees (US$90,131) covered by Enterprise Ireland, the Department of Education and Skills and the Irish higher education sector, will eventually be rolled out across other countries in the future.

“Ireland’s relationship with education agents is critical in communicating the benefits of Ireland as a quality education destination to discerning Indian students. The objective of the new programme is to move Ireland up the agenda of education agents in India and make it easier for them to recommend Ireland as a quality education destination to the students they counsel,” Minister Bruton concluded.

Source: hothousemedia.com