How India Can Get Rich by Emulating Ireland's Education Playbook

Ireland did not stumble into prosperity. It planned its way there-classroom by classroom, skill by skill. Decades before it became Europe's technology and pharma hub, the country made one clear choice: education would be its primary economic weapon. Instead of chasing quick fixes, the Irish government undertook deep market research and targeted electronics and technology as future growth sectors. This insight informed national education policy: expanding STEM courses, strategic funding of universities, and aligning curricula to where the global economy was going-to be, not where it had been.

The results were not unimpressive. By 1993, Ireland boasted the highest proportion of science and technical graduates of any of 25 OECD nations, surpassing countries like Germany, Finland, and even the United States. That talent pool became a magnet for global companies. Intel arrived early, followed by Google, Facebook, and nearly all major medical technology firms. Universities alone now contribute more than $10.5 billion annually to Ireland’s GDP.

Third and most importantly, it pursued education not just as a social duty, but also as an economic investment. Designing courses with industry contributions, embedding internships into degrees, and concentrating research areas particularly in AI, pharmaceuticals, and advanced manufacturing-all commercially relevant-also became common. Adult education made sure that the workers could reskill with industry evolution. In the process, Ireland achieved a very high level of employment even through global disruption.

The contrast with India is stark. Despite the millions of students graduating every year, many Indian engineering and management colleges continue to teach with outdated syllabi, with weak linkage with industry, and little accountability for the employability outcome of students. Education is looked at more as a source of revenue than as a value proposition.

Ireland flipped that logic. Students were seen as customers—and outcomes mattered. The relevant lesson for India is not to replicate Ireland's model blindfolded but to adapt those principles to scale: 'painstaking' labour market research, industry-aligned curricula, continuous skill upgrades, and universities as engines of national wealth. With the demographic tailwind and global repository of talent, India can do even more. As Ireland demonstrates so vividly, nations don't prosper by luck. They do it through education.