Mansfield plan falls short on integration
Note: The Saudi Ministry of Education subsequently issued a denial that it had contracted with the Irish language institute at the centre of this story and dismissed media claims.
22/2/10 - A recent report that the Mansfield Group is to bring 750 Saudi students to a live-in English language school on a Dublin City West Business Campus has caused considerable disquiet across the international education sector in Ireland. The Department of Education and the Department of Justice are concerned about aspects of the plans for Citywest Institute of Education which could lead to ghettoisation.
Sheila Power, Director of the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) has expressed her grave reservations about the model of international education presented by the Mansfield proposal. “It is not one ICOS would support,” she said, “particularly from the point of view of the integration of international students both on campus and in the community. Integration is a vital part of the overall educational experience and it is difficult to see how the Mansfield model would achieve this. We welcome the Saudi students and others from the region as they are currently under represented in Irish institutions when compared to international students from other parts of the world. However, this should be done in a managed way”.
Ms Power referred to the recent visit of the Minister of Education, Batt O’Keeffe to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, where plans were laid for a number of initiatives which would see further educational co-operation between Ireland and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with both Saudi students coming to Ireland and Irish post-graduate researchers going to Saudi Arabia.