New talent attaches will be appointed to work with Irish diplomatic teams in Washington DC and San Francisco later this year, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris has said. Those appointed to the new roles will seek to build links between universities and to encourage the movement of students and researchers.
The move forms part of a strategy launched initially by Mr Harris when he served as minister for higher education. This aimed to increase the number of overseas higher education students by 10 per cent and attract hundreds of high-calibre PhD students to undertake research and innovation in Ireland by the end of the decade.
The Department of Further and Higher Education said on Friday the Global Citizens 2030 strategy aimed “to embed talent and innovation at the heart of Ireland’s global footprint”. It said the strategy sought to create a ‘Team Ireland’ for talent and innovation in priority global locations.
“The appointment of talent and innovation attaches is integral to embedding talent and innovation at the heart of Ireland’s global footprint through close collaboration with the Global Ireland initiative.
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“The new roles will focus on promoting Ireland’s further and higher education, research, innovation and science profile and interests in the United States through engaging with key partners and organisations such as universities, research and development institutes, funding organisations and philanthropic partners both in Ireland and the US.
“They will explore new avenues for co-operation and collaboration in further and higher education, research, innovation and science, and will also work closely with Irish institutions, support ministerial visits, trade missions, St Patrick’s Day missions and relevant local events.”
Mr Harris told the Dáil this week that when he was minister for Higher education he argued in favour of the appointment of talent attaches located in key areas. He said he believed these personnel “could work with universities and the research and innovation communities to build links between universities, encourage student mobility and encourage more of the best and brightest to work on ideas”.
“I am delighted that now we are seeing the first two talent attaches, one located in San Francisco and the other in Washington DC. Both of them are going to be in place this year.”
The Global Citizens 2030 strategy envisages developing new academic exchange programmes and stronger collaboration with universities in Britain and the EU.
At present there are an estimated 35,000 international students enrolled in higher education and a further 25,000 in English-language schools. The international student market is worth an estimated €2 billion to the economy.
