Griffith College signs €3m Chinese deal

Sunday Business Post - Done Deal page - Nov 09 2008

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Griffith College in Dublin has agreed partnership deals valued at €3 million to accept students from four Chinese colleges.

Griffith college president Diarmuid Hegarty said the deals would boost college revenues with the addition of up to 300 new students annually.

As a result of the agreements with Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST),Yangtze University, Hebei College of Finance (HCF) and Beijing International Studies University (BISTU), Hegarty said the students would take part in business and IT degree programmes run by Griffith College.

‘‘We expect to get 300 more students coming here out of the new arrangements,” he said. ‘‘With an average of €10,000 per student, we get the €3 million figure.”


Under the arrangement with HCF, Griffith will establish a new Association of Chartered Certified Accountant s (ACCA) teaching department. For BISTU, it will develop a special international degree in accounting and finance.

Chinese students from all four institutions will be able to use their studies at Griffith College towards their final degree qualifications at home, Hegarty said.

‘‘The Chinese universities will amend their programmes so students can effectively cover there what our degrees cover in the first two years,” he said.

‘‘Typically, students do two years in China and then one or two years here in Ireland.” Hegarty valued the new agreements at €6 million annually to the wider Irish economy.

‘‘Each student probably spends €10,000 while living here, on travel, accommodation and subsistence,” he said.

Griffith College already has articulation agreements in place with three other universities in Beijing and Shanghai, plus an office in Beijing employing three staff locally.

Prior to this latest deal, 500 Chinese students attended Griffith courses in Ireland each year, generating €5 million in revenues for the college, Hegarty said.

He said the college had worked hard since 1994 to build relationships with institutions and individuals around China. ‘‘We are now the best known Irish education institution in China,” he said.

‘‘It is all about developing personal relationships and staying in constant contact. You do not develop these contacts overnight, you go over there and meet with them and work with them to gain their trust.”

Five hundred accountancy students attend a Russian college established by Griffith in Moscow in 2002. It also has more than 140 collaboration agreements with colleges in the US, Europe and Asia.