Over one-quarter of total fee income at Trinity College Dublin comes from foreign students, according to new figures.
In all, TCD now earns over €15 million in fee income from over 2,400 foreign students per year. This represents 27 per cent per cent of its total fee income for last year of €56 million.
As expected, the highest number of these students (1,059) come from the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. Over 300 US students are enrolled at the college, generating fee income of over €3.4 million.
TCD's reputation as the most cosmopolitan of Irish universities is underlined by the figures. Students from more than 80 different states are registered at the college. These include students from Botswana (21), Saudi Arabia (8), Iraq (5) and China (16).
A total of 95 students from Malaysia are registered with Trinity and these generate over €1.6 million in fees.
The international flavour of TCD's student body is remarkable as Irish universities - unlike their British and American counterparts - do not aggressively recruit undergraduates and postgraduates from other states. TCD runs an international student affairs office, but the pressure of space on the campus limits the opportunity to market the college.
In all, some 2,432 of TCD's student body of 14,850 are drawn from outside the State. These generate total fee income of €15.1 million which includes tuition fees and smaller students charges.
Student fees for undergraduates from the Republic were abolished in 1996 but the college receives fee income of €41.09 million from the HEA. Its total fee income is €56 million.
In most cases undergraduate students from within the EU are exempt from fees. But foreign students pay costly fees, which are designed to reflect the "real economic cost" of the course on offer.
The 21 students from Botswana, for example, pay €368,000 in fee income, while 16 Chinese students generate fee income of €149,000.
Fees from non-EU students are an important revenue stream for Irish colleges.
According to the most recent figures over half the medical places in Irish universities are taken by students from outside the State.