afrol News, 23 September - Fancy to study on the cosy Indian Ocean island of Mauritius? The Mauritian government is now building infrastructure to receive 100,000 more foreign students by 2020.
The government of Mauritius yesterday announced it had earmarked funds for the construction of five campuses in rural areas of the island, which otherwise is more known as a luxury holiday destination.
According to Education Minister Rajeshwar Jeetah, these major investments in decentralised campuses primarily were aimed at "widening access to tertiary education from 47 percent currently to 72 percent" for Mauritian citizens "by 2015."
But the investment also aimed at "positioning Mauritius as a centre of excellence in higher education in the region." Basically, the island state hopes to attract large numbers of international student to Mauritius as a means to both improve learning on the island and to attract capital.
Minister Jeetah said that in "a bid to promote Mauritius as an education destination for foreign students and to attract 100,000 students by 2020," the government was working on a series of initiatives.
These were, amongst others, facilitating visa procedures, allowing full-time students to work, providing accommodation facilities and good infrastructure, developing new attractive study programmes for international students, starting a global marketing and public relations campaign and enhancing general conditions such as security aspects.
The Minister added that demand for access to post secondary education is increasing dramatically worldwide. According to statistics published by Merill Lynch, the private higher education market will reach US$ 8 trillion by 2025.
"This sector can be transformed into one of the pillars of our economy," said Minister Jeetah. He urged Mauritian stakeholders to improve networking and enhance quality and marketing development to make the different institutions visible.
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