Trinity is to spend an estimated €200,000 on increasing the number of Chinese students in College, a move that will see the College employing two full-time staff in China.
The Irish Times has reported that College is seeking tenders from interested parties to set up “student recruitment support services” in China.
A Trinity spokesperson told the Irish Times that it is too early to predict if the coronavirus crisis will negatively affect the recruitment drive, and if so, to what extent.
“The Covid 19 crisis continues to evolve and is impacting Trinity and its staff and students in many, complex ways”, the spokesperson said. “At this point it is too early, however to predict whether, or to what extent, it will have an impact on student recruitment in this area.”
The recruitment support services would have two full-time staff based in China, who would act as advisers and student recruitment officers for Trinity.
“We have around 500 Chinese students currently studying at Trinity, among a total number of around 19,000 students. We have students from well over 100 countries studying with us”, the spokesperson said.
Last month, The University Times reported that Trinity is preparing for a “significant decrease” in the number of international students it will be able to attract, due to the effects of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
Documents presented to University Council by Senior Lecturer Kevin Mitchell, seen by The University Times, said that the recruitment of international students to undergraduate and postgraduate courses is “already being affected”.
“We should expect a significant decrease in numbers, from some areas in particular”, the documents said.
Trinity’s new strategic plan – the physical launch of which was cancelled amid fears that mass gatherings will spread coronavirus – aimed to increase non-EU student numbers by 1,000 by 2025, bringing their total number to 4,000. Non-EU postgraduate students will also increase by 42 per cent.
