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Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Employment and Learning
with St Mary’s Principal Professor Peter Finn
St Mary’s University College launched its fourth international
week on March 22nd at a reception in the Old Library at the College
which was attended by Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Employment and
Learning. St Mary’s Principal, Professor Peter Finn, said
“This week of international projects and activities
has the aim of heightening awareness of the International dimension
in the College locally as well as increasing our international
visibility abroad. We are delighted that the Minister was able
to join with us to welcome our ninety guests from abroad.”
The core of the week is a study programme called Fusion Education
and this is for over thirty international students from Europe
and the USA .It involves teaching staff from Germany, Austria,
Belgium, England, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal.
In addition the College also hosted the following: a Comenius
preparatory meeting for a multilateral project on pupils’
concepts of Europe; a visit of ten Jewish and Arab Israeli staff
and students from David Yellin College of Education in Jerusalem,
here to study conflict resolution with staff and students from
St Mary’s and Stranmillis Colleges; a Comenius course for
schoolteachers from Europe on comparative literature and a study
group from Sør-Trøndelag University College, Norway.
Most of the projects within the International Week are supported
by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. Paul Anthony, International
Coordinator at St Mary’s said “Our International Week
demonstrates the College’s high level of commitment to internationalisation
and the large numbers of people who attended shows that we are
a vibrant and respected partner in the International community
of teacher educators.
In a parallel development St Mary’s announced a range of
new international projects and in particular a Development partnership
with the University of Zambia which is supported by Sir Reg Empey’s
Department at DEL.
A generous grant of £60,000 has been awarded to St Mary’s,
in partnership with the University of Zambia to assist in establishing
academic as well as student-learning and business links. The award
by the Department for Employment and Learning comes under the
“Education Partnerships in Africa (EPA)” grants programme
which is managed by the British Council and has the intention
of transferring knowledge for the enhancement of business education
between Zambia and Northern Ireland.
Minister for the Department for Employment and Learning, Sir Reg
Empey congratulated St Mary’s on their success stating:
“My Department recognizes the important contribution higher
education can make to growth and development in sub-Saharan Africa;
in particular increasing the capacity of the African higher education
system. Through the provision of funding under the Education Partnership
Africa Scheme in Northern Ireland my Department has awarded one
of two grants to St Mary’s University College to help further
develop their partnership work with the University of Zambia.
I welcome the University College’s continual commitment
to their work in sub-Saharan Africa and I wish the project every
success.”
“This project has enabled St Mary’s to extend its
knowledge-base to an international context that it would otherwise
not have had the opportunity to access. Working with academics
and businesses in Zambia has proved to be productive on all sides,
we now have direct links to economic development initiatives in
sub-Saharan Africa and our colleagues in the University of Zambia
have been able to draw on specialism from Northern Ireland.”
Dr Gerard McCann, Country Co-ordinator, EPA Zambia-Northern Ireland
Project, St Mary’s University College, Belfast.
“To date we have been able to establish an economic
development unit at UNZA, adapt modules, run seminars in business
education, link businesses locally and internationally, and promote
important developmental concepts such as micro-financing and the
social economy. In a cultural sense also our visits to Belfast
have given us an insight into the European university system and
your colleagues from Northern Ireland have been able to see the
best of African culture and business sense.”
Mr Chrispin Matenga, Country Co-ordinator, EPA Zambia-Northern
Ireland Project, University of Zambia, Lusaka.
For further information regarding this project please contact:
Dr
Gerard McCann, St Mary’s University College, Tel: 02890
327678.
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