Belfast's St Mary's University College is on the brink of major change. Yesterday saw the official launch of its centenary year celebrations. When milestones such as this are reached there is a tendency to look back reflectively and to anticipate what the future will bring. Mission statements are often formulated - and St Mary's is no exception.
The college's principal Reverend Professor Martin O'Callaghan sees it's role as "helping to build peace by supporting economic and social regeneration within Northern Ireland".
For St Mary's, the changes for the future are dramatic. Last year by application to the Privy Council (the highest court in the UK) the college was granted official status as a college of Queen's University, Belfast. This year sees the transition from Catholic teacher training college to a much broader remit. With its new university status, the college is committed to various criteria such as a commitment to research, an expansion in academic disciplines and an intention to welcome students from more diverse backgrounds, especially from the Protestant community.
One of the most exciting developments is the enrolment of 70 students to the new BA in liberal arts, which commences this autumn. This is a high-quality degree programme based on the tradition of the liberal arts degrees in the US. It aims to enable students to develop a rounded knowledge and academic discipline which will cover three main areas. First, it addresses human development studies. This includes learning management skills, information and communication technology (ICT), oral and writing skills and organisational studies. European studies constitutes the second part of the course, examining economics, politics, the arts and culture in Europe. The third element involves the more traditional academic study of a chosen subject. Irish, English and history are studied in collaboration with the faculty of humanities in Queen's.
The course will involve a period of work placement in each of it's three years - in areas ranging from local government to private sector management and voluntary sector involvement. There is also a strong emphasis in St Mary's on involvement in the Erasmus European student exchange programme, with 20 per cent of students taking part.
St Mary's has invested a lot in technological upgrading in recent years and ICT is a compulsory component at all levels of study and includes the BEd as well as the BA programme.
Peter Finn, director of external relations at the college and course director for the new BA programme, says, "we want to take the traditions of the quality of higher education in the Catholic tradition and, with an inclusive attitude, try to encourage academic excellence among the local community and among sections of the community which we have never reached before".
Peter Finn has a very strong sense of a responsibility as an educator towards playing his part in cementing the fragile peace in the North. St Mary's, situated on the Catholic Falls Road, has a strong desire to provide an open forum for the local and wider community, and also involving Europe through links with colleges in the US.
Finn praises the vision of the principal, Father Martin, as having spurred on events in the past number of years to bring St Mary's to this point. "We are attending the Higher Options event in Dublin this year for the first time and are very proud to show what St Mary's has to offer at the start of it's next centenary."
St Mary's admission details: Tel (0289)0327678 and website www.stmarys-belfast.ac.uk/
