Mid Ulster students set off for opportunity of a lifetime on US scholarship programme

They join the 30th cohort of 52 students from across Northern Ireland selected for the programme, who will spend the next academic year studying in American universities and colleges, across 22 states.

Brian Gervin from Dungannon, who is studying Accounting at Ulster University is heading to Spalding University in Kentucky; fellow Ulster University student Dylan Hunter, from Magherafelt, who is studying Sociology with Politics and International Studies, is off to Rosemont College, Pennsylvania; and Environmental Science student Louise Beattie is swapping Ulster University for Miscericordia University, Pennsylvania.

Chloe Brodison-McMinn, from Cookstown, is studying Law at Ulster University, and is heading to Westminster College, Pennsylvania and Clodagh McMenemy, from Pomeroy, is studying Criminology and Sociology at Queen’s University Belfast and will spend the next academic year at La Roche University, also in Pennsylvania.

Starting in 1994, the flagship programme was originally designed to assist with the peace process, with the White House providing an endorsement for the programme in 2014 in a letter written by President Bill Clinton. Since then, the programme, which is managed by the British Council, on behalf of the Department for the Economy, has helped over 2500 students studying in Northern Ireland to spend a full academic year at one of 140 partner institutions spread across the US and has helped to strengthen cultural, educational and economic links with the US.