Twenty students from Brazil, China and India have already received the award which waives all fees and registration charges while providing €10,000 to cover living expense for one year of study in Ireland.

“We are a trading economy, and so we need to raise Ireland’s links with major emerging markets like China, Brazil and India,” said Quinn at a ceremony in Dublin last week. “By awarding scholarships to top students from these countries, we are making an investment in our future trading relationships, which will benefit Irish business, tourism and cultural interests overseas.”

“We need to raise Ireland’s links with major emerging markets like China, Brazil and India”

According to Enterprise Ireland, the government agency charged with the development of Irish enterprise overseas, international students contribute over €1 billion to the Irish economy annually.

Managed by the Higher Education Authority on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills, the International Scholarship Programme aims to promote Ireland as a study destination but also develop “cultural and diplomatic links with emerging markets” in general.

Current recipients are in either their final year of undergraduate studies or at postgraduate level. An additional 22 scholarships will be awarded to students from China, Brazil, India and the USA for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Also recognised at the ceremony were 40 international student ambassadors who work to promote Ireland through social media engagement with students in China, the Middle East, Brazil and the US. Due to their efforts, promotion body Education in Ireland had 631,000 online interactions in January – up from 42,008 in 2012.

Ireland hopes to dramatically increase international enrolments by 2015 across all sectors. Its universities saw an 8% rise in 2011/12, according to Education in Ireland.