Ayr College welcomes international invasion

Sep 3 2010 by Stuart Wilson, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

IT’S the international invasion helping to put South Ayrshire on the map.

And students who are swapping life in India for Ayr town centre say life has never been better.

A growing legion of foreign youngsters are choosing to jet in for their education at Ayr College.

With more than 100 overseas students now on board, the college is quickly becoming a cultural capital.

Now bosses have revealed the secret of their success abroad, which has seen new arrivals from Punjab to Pakistan.

Marketing chief Shelagh McLachlan revealed: “We have agents based abroad who spread the word of Ayr College and do our recruiting.

“They act a bit like travel agents finding people holidays, only in this case it’s courses for these students at our college.

“We have a fixed amount of domestic students we can take each year, so it’s not a case of us recruiting abroad in favour of students from this country.

“But what we’re doing is building the reputation of Scottish education in other countries and encouraging students to come here.”

And now they’re arriving in their droves.

Ayr College currently boasts an overseas register which includes countries ranging from India and Nepal to Pakistan.

Recruitment is continuing at pace throughout the world, with students brought over to live as part of the South Ayrshire community.

Shelagh explained: “We have worked hard for six years to build the reputation of Ayr College abroad.

“Through links with other colleges in these countries, we’ve got to the stage where overseas students see us as a fantastic option to continue their studies.

“They come over here and we help find them accomodation in and around Ayr. There’s no doubt it’s a culture shock for them at first, but we have a mentoring system in place to help them adapt.

“The best thing is how our international students have fitted in with everyone else. It’s been a very worthwhile project that shows every sign of going from strength to strength.”