“One of the major changes to have taken place in higher education in Ireland during the current decade is its internationalisation … It is therefore particularly disturbing that we make access to Ireland for them extraordinarily difficult. For students from outside the European Union, they require a visa, and getting this is both bureaucratically complex (and I gather, sometimes unpleasant) and very time-consuming. Most students who come to Ireland could be going somewhere else. Countries competing with us – such as the United Kingdom and the United States – now tend to offer a streamlined and fast visa application process. The UK authorities will typically offer a visa within 2-3 weeks of asking; in our case it can take months …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 9 June]