ildren. The second-level sector comprises secondary, vocational, community and comprehensive schools. The third level education sector consists of universities, technological colleges and colleges of education. In addition to the courses provided in third level institutions, a wide range of vocational education and training courses are offered within the education sector for students who have completed their secondary schooling. Such programs include a recent initiative to provide the skills required by the international teleservice industry, which is of growing significance in Ireland. Vocational schools are administered by Vocational Education Committees.13As an international trading economy with small domestic market, Ireland is heavily dependent on foreign trade. Irish exports have grown enormously in the past decade and Ireland is now the third largest source of imports. In 1998 exports of goods and services accounted for about 92% of Irish GDP. The major trading partners of Ireland include the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, France, and Japan. Irelands strong export performance is strongly influenced by overseas companies, which produce over half of manufactured output and more than 80% of manufactured exports.Ireland is one of the most profitable locations for industrial investment in Europe and is especially attractive to US investors. Ireland has a higher proportion of young people in full-time education than the US and most other industrialized countries. One of the attractions for the investor, apart from this young and well-educated English-speaking workforce, is that Ireland has a very low corporation tax rate.14 There are more than 1,000 foreign owned manufacturing/international services companies in Ireland.The Irish economy is one of the fastest growing in the world, and this has reflected a need for more workers. To obtain work in Ireland, it is essential to have a fluent, working knowledge of English. Altho...
