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St Mary’s University College Belfast and The University of Notre Dame Australia are delighted to launch a new phase of cooperation between the two institutions, with the recent signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aiming to foster collaboration and scholarly exchange.
Grounded in the rich heritage of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, the two institutions share a commitment to integral human development through education of the whole person; the academic, social, physical, and spiritual dimensions – and are deeply committed to the formation of students who endeavour to make a rich contribution to their professions and the common good. Shared between them also is a striving to innovate and to drive excellence across teaching and research in a broad range of fields.
In bridging the geographical distance between them, this MOU now promises to further strengthen that mutual commitment, providing students and staff alike, a global experience and bringing them even closer in Mission and culture.
Areas of collaboration will include academic faculty and student exchange programmes and immersions, joint research projects, teacher education and professional development, advancement of Catholic education and the spiritual formation of students and staff.
Following the signing of the MOU, Professor Peter Finn KSG, Principal of St Mary’s University College Belfast, stated, “The mission of St Mary’s is to make a distinctive contribution of service and excellence, in the Catholic tradition, to higher education in Northern Ireland. To further our mission, we work with a wide range of partners and seek to build fruitful and enduring relationships. This new bilateral partnership is unique in that it is purposively grounded in the rich heritage of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition which informs and inspires our respective institutions in Ireland and Australia. At St Mary’s we look forward to a new phase of collaboration.”
Speaking also about the partnership, Vice Chancellor of The University of Notre Dame Australia, Professor Francis Campbell, added, “Our ambition is to serve society through educating and forming our students so they can in turn serve the societies in which they live. Two of our key strategic pillars, Integral Human Development and Universality, are designed to encourage our students and staff to flourish, using our connections, networks, and relationships to provide every possible opportunity the world has to offer them. With this MOU in place, our students and colleagues will play an active part in the realisation of this vision.”