Pictured at the Award Ceremony for Education in Ireland Student Ambassadors from the USA in April 2012 are Siobhan Allaeddinni from NUI Galway and Caela Provost from Univeristy of Limerick.

It is widely acknowledged that current and former international students who have enjoyed a positive experience are the greatest ambassadors for a programme, an institution and a country.  Consideration of this led Education in Ireland to establish a pilot Student Online Ambassador Programme with US university students in 2011/12.

The pilot programme was so successful that in November 2012 it was expanded to include all interested Higher Education Institutions who work with Education in Ireland, and all nationalities. 40 student ambassadors from eight countries are now on board, have received their ambassadorial training, and are now blogging about their experiences in Ireland.

The internationally innovative Student Online Ambassador Programme operates as an online community of ambassadors who provide high quality, well presented blogs, videos, podcasts and articles about their experiences as students in Ireland. The ambassadors also answer enquiries from prospective students and parents, engaging positively in discussion around the Irish higher education offering. Its aim is to establish a prestigious, gold standard international communication tool with a clear emphasis on quality. The programme has the potential to provide excellent benefits for Ireland as well as for the participating students, many of whom have found that their blogs have been published elsewhere and they have been interviewed by local papers in their home area.  The students are hand-picked by their institutions and often assist on campus with promotional activities. In April the student ambassadors will receive a certificate of completion from the Minister for Education.

Education in Ireland is the umbrella brand for promoting Irish higher education institutions in overseas markets, managed by Enterprise Ireland.