Thousands of extra Chinese third-level students are likely to be attracted to Irish colleges following a Sino-Irish agreement.
"The potential for Ireland for bringing in international students, not just Chinese, is enormous," the Minister for Education and Science, Ms Hanafin, said yesterday.
Around 3,000 Chinese study in Irish third-level institutions, and this figure could double in coming years.
Irish universities, colleges and institutes of technology taking part in this week's trade mission to China yesterday signed deals worth nearly €35 million with Chinese counterparts.
The Government hopes to strike a deal with China later this year guaranteeing mutual recognition of third-level courses. This would see significant numbers of Irish and Chinese students splitting their time between the two countries.
Irish third-level institutions are also bidding to organise larger numbers of courses for Chinese students in China.
Illustrating the scale of the opportunities available, Griffith College's Mr Diarmuid Hegarty said China would need 240,000 accountants trained to international standards over the next few years to cope with the growth in the country's economy.
Half a million Chinese students are studying abroad each year - a 10-fold increase in just a decade, said Ms Hanafin.
This number will increase because Chinese third-level institutions, which currently cater for the needs of 1 per cent of the student population, have insufficient places.
"There is a huge demand that can't be met in China," said Ms Hanafin, who held several hours of talks with her Chinese counterpart, Mr Zhou Ji.
"Up to 10 million students are looking for higher education. We are only looking for a fraction of that because we are only interested in providing top-quality education," she said.
A new Government agency, Education Ireland, will offer quality marks to Irish third-level institutions capable of meeting the education and pastoral needs of foreign students.
"We are conscious that these young people are a long way from home, and that they will need help with their accommodation, their social and religious needs."
Last night the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Martin, said Ireland wanted to attract top-quality post-doctoral research students.
Ireland needs to find 10,000 extra researchers, in software and other high-tech areas, by 2010 to maintain the country's international competitiveness.
"We will be able to meet their needs and China will be able to find places for their young people. This is a win-win situation for everyone," he said.
However, the Minister for Education emphasised that extra demand for third-level places for foreign students would not affect Irish students.
The Government has sought proposals from Irish third-level institutions to set up an Institute of Chinese studies in the Republic.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, encouraged Chinese tourists to visit Ireland when he spoke at an exhibition organised by Tourism Ireland.
