We can and should do better for Gaza students seeking to study in Ireland
Posted on: 26 August 2026
What is needed is a funded partnership model between the Government and the institutions backed by fee waivers and donor support, writes Emma Stokes, outgoing vice-president for global engagement, in a comment piece first published in The Irish Times.
For several years now Trinity College Dublin, along with other third-level colleges, has worked with government to bring small numbers of students out of Gaza and on to Irish campuses to continue their education in safety, funded by a variety of scholarships.
The numbers have never been huge. In the first year (2024-2025) Trinity welcomed three postgraduate students who managed to leave Gaza when it was still possible. Last year we welcomed 15 undergraduate and postgraduate students to courses ranging from global health, energy science, intercultural studies, engineering, business and sustainability, international and comparative law.
They are a tiny proportion of our community. For context, Trinity’s student population is 23,000 of which about 5,000 are international (non-EU) students. Each arrival was preceded by weeks or months of planning, assisting with academic applications, sourcing funding and then the uncertainty of visa applications and decisions, waiting to see if other permissions to travel would be issued. Finally, we had the evacuation.
To a person, these students did not just meet the admission requirements but were academically excellent. They surpassed all expectations, despite the transition to a new country, a new community and living with, as one of our students describes it, “survivor’s guilt”.
Our experience has been replicated across colleges and universities across the country, which have raised close to €4 million for 2025-2026 to ensure these students would not be a cost to the State. As President Catherine Connolly noted when the students visited Áras an Uachtaráin recently, we are indebted to these students for their spirit, their determination and their perseverance.
Read the full article on The Irish Times website.