CENTRE for CROSS BORDER STUDIES

The Centre acts as the secretariat for Universities Ireland, set up in 2003 to promote co-operation between the nine universities in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Universities Ireland has undertaken work in the following areas: intellectual property and technology transfer; co-operation with universities in Africa; links with Universities UK; harmonising inter-university regulations; North-South masters scholarships; e-learning, and university-business collaboration.

The Centre acts as the secretariat for the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS), set up in 2003 to bring together colleges of education, university education departments and other teacher education agencies in both jurisdictions. Research and conference projects have covered areas like special educational needs; citizenship education; linguistic and intercultural education; initial teacher education; and social, scientific and environmental education.

The Centre acts as the secretariat for the new International Centre for Local and Regional Development. This brings together spatial planning and urban development specialists at NUI Maynooth, University of Ulster, the Institute of International Urban Development (Cambridge, Mass.) and Athlone Institute of Technology to explore the contribution that planning and the development of physical, social and economic infrastructures can make to improving the lives of people in both Irish jurisdictions.