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INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS WHO have studied in Ireland have said they were sold “fake dreams” and “aggressively pushed” into coming here while at an Irish government education roadshow in India.
Students have described ending up with massive debt and unable to find jobs from over-subscribed courses. One student said: “I am losing my time, having a gap in my career at the age of 30-plus and having a debt of €30,000 on my head which is giving me nothing in return.”
Students from outside the EU pay up to quadruple the amount EU students spend on fees to study in Ireland, with some masters costing well over €20,000.
Research from the Higher Education Authority shows international student enrolment reached a record high of 44,500 in Ireland in 2024/25. Indian students made up 9,175 of the total figure, representing more than 20% of all international enrolments, this was followed by US students at over 13%.
But are the students who come here informed of the reality of living in Ireland and getting the support they need?
The Department of Higher Education, along with Enterprise Ireland, run a programme called Education in Ireland, which hosts education roadshows abroad – primarily in India and the US - to encourage students to study in Ireland.
In India, the roadshow involves free events in five-star hotels, where the website says students will have an opportunity to “meet with the Irish government” to get the facts on applying to colleges, securing a visa and post-study work rights as well as getting “one-on-one advice” from universities and colleges.
A former student who has asked to remain anonymous said an Irish government roadshow in India sold them “fake dreams” about studying here.
Speaking to The Journal, they said: “I attended education fairs and met university representatives. They used clever tactics to win my trust, like bringing along an Indian professor.
They aggressively pushed Ireland, telling me my experience will be highly valued there and that I would make great money and could retire easily.”
The former student said that based on the information they received, they decided to study in Ireland and then live and work here to save up before moving home. However, they said the reality is “far from what has been told or sold back home”.
“Here, my experience, skills, education, qualification, plus extra certification which I spent €5,000 more on, is useless as most of the hiring managers say they will only hire people on a Stamp 4 visa or EU passport,” they explained.
They said that third-level roadshow representatives in India said there would be “ample opportunity to find a job”, but “hid the facts” around how many international students actually got jobs and how many are working minimum wage jobs outside their area of study.
“In my own class of 50 students, around 48 were immigrants and only seven got a job,” they said.
On top of the difficulty accessing work, they said they have faced “hatred” from locals, adding that there are many areas they will no longer visit due to personal safety fears.
Last summer there was a spate of attacks against Indian people, which led to the Indian embassy in Dublin recently warning citizens to “take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas”.
Despite the difficulties they faced, the former student said neither their university nor the government has been a major help.
Another former student, Aditya from Mumbai, said he decided to study in Ireland after being “convinced” by a free guidance service from an education agency in India.
“I wasn’t even sure I wanted to move to Ireland, but the counsellor convinced me,” he told The Journal.
At an education roadshow at a hotel in Mumbai in 2022, Aditya said representatives discussed the visa process and accommodation, and recommended looking for housing through an agency – but he believes they did not communicate how challenging the rental market is in Ireland.
The Education in Ireland website acknowledges that university housing can be “challenging” to find and “relatively costly”. However, it does not mention costs or challenges associated with renting on the private market.
Aditya said the agency recommended at the roadshow did not have any housing available near his university, and he had no luck getting accommodation through his university.
“I moved having secured my accommodation at a BnB for the following 12 days only with no backup or leads, having grossly underestimated the housing crisis because its seriousness wasn’t communicated to us during the roadshow,” he said.
After securing housing, Aditya said he has enjoyed living in Ireland and described the overall experience as positive, but he feels the quality of education was not correctly advertised.
“We had over 150 students in a classroom, which seemed unfair and something that was never brought to our attention,” he said.
“It barely gave us any 1:1 time with professors and plenty of times, we had to figure things out ourselves. International students pay significantly more for the course and I don’t think it’s worth the amount.”
He also said the job market in Ireland has been “extremely difficult” and was not what he expected.
An IT employee from India who has been living in Dublin for seven years said that in recent years more Indian students are arriving ill-prepared to live in Ireland.
“For the past four years I have constantly had Indian students on my sofa in my apartment who have come from my area in India taking huge loans to come here, getting scammed with deposits for accommodation which did not exist when they arrive,” he told The Journal.
Many, many Indians end up using soup kitchens due to a false dream sold to them at the roadshows.”
They said they have attended education roadshows in India, with a relative who wished to study in Ireland, where employment and visa sponsorship opportunities are overstated.
“They have huge photos of sheep and green fields and talk about clean air which is very important to Indians, but instead of clean air we end up living in damp mouldy flats in dangerous parts of Dublin with 12 or 15 people in a two-bed apartment,” he said.
They said they know many Indian students sharing beds and working minimum wage hospitality jobs after they graduate to clear the debt their relatives took on to pay for their studies in Ireland.
Speaking to The Journal, Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Higher Education said: “As the government brand, Education in Ireland through Enterprise Ireland organises a series of roadshows each year which provide a forum for prospective international students to connect with Irish HEIs.”
They said Education in Ireland leads the “global promotion” of Ireland’s HEI’s for international study, adding that as well as international fairs, it organises national pavilions at industry events focused at growing international university partnerships.
“The responsibility for the recruitment, application processing, and admission of international students rests with each individual HEI. The issuing of study visas, where relevant, falls under the remit of the Department of Justice,” they said.
“Education in Ireland events are intended to provide prospective students with information about studying in Ireland and to support informed decision-making. Ultimately, the decision on whether and where to study is a matter for each individual student.”
They said they recognise that accommodation and cost-of-living challenges are important considerations and said “students are encouraged to consider all relevant factors when making decisions about studying overseas”.
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