A long-awaited cohesive brand for Ireland’s international education sector was revealed on March 24 by Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton. Ambitious plans to double the amount of foreign students in the university sector were also unveiled, from the current base of 26,000, and key messages have been developed about education in Ireland that will be promoted at www.educationireland.com.
These include: the fact that Ireland is English-speaking; friendly and safe; offers internationally recognised qualifications; has many distinguished graduates and is the home to many global companies.
Bruton commented that the brand provides “the vehicle to present a unique, high-quality Irish education experience to international students”, adding, “The international students we educate today are the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs and decision makers in our partner countries. They will be tomorrow’s advocates for Ireland.”
An international communications strategy to promote the brand is now being rolled out in certain markets; examples given were China, the USA, India and the Middle East. Marketing and promotional events are pencilled in for 2011 in Saudi Arabia, Brazil, China, India and the USA. The new brand is part of the International Education Strategy for 2010-2015 that was rolled out in September 2010.
Quinn said, “The new brand is more than a logo. It represents our vision of Ireland as an internationally recognised world leader in the delivery of high-quality international education.” This development comes after much anticipation of an Education Ireland brand that was previously conceived of but not funded by government.
The new brand, Education in Ireland, is supported by a new tagline “World-class Standards, Warmest of Welcomes”. Coinciding with the launch, tourism body Failte Ireland also revealed it is boosting its funding of the English language teaching sector, and revealed the results of its latest market survey.
