Queen's welcomes overseas students

More than 50 overseas students arrived in Belfast at the weekend to take part in a three-week International Summer School at Queen's University.

Now in its fourth year, the Summer School programme, entitled 'Ireland: Northern Perspectives', runs from 19 July to 6 August, and is coordinated by the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen's.

The Summer School offers international students the chance to study at first-hand the unique interaction of history, culture and politics in this part of the world.

The packed interdisciplinary programme combines lectures by internationally-acclaimed scholars from across Queen's University and elsewhere, with excursions to sites of archaeological, historical and cultural interest, and meetings with some of Northern Ireland’s decision-makers. It touches on the history, politics, anthropology, film and theatre, language and literature of Ireland.

While most of the students are from the United States or Canada, there are also visitors from Japan, Australia, Poland, Spain, Portugal and Romania.

Commenting on the scheme, Dr Dominic Bryan, Director of the Institute of Irish Studies and Summer School organiser, said: "International students like Belfast. We’ve had tremendously positive feedback from previous years' students on the warmth with which they felt greeted in Belfast as a visitor.

"In fact, several students who attended previous Summer Schools are now enrolled to join full-time postgraduate programmes here at Queen's this autumn in the Schools of Politics, Anthropology, and of course, Irish Studies."

Around 70 additional international students will take part in the first week of the Queen's programme, thanks to a link up with a summer programme being run at Trinity College Dublin. Some of this year's participants are also combining the Summer School at Queen's with a similar three-week programme at University College Dublin.

(MB)