University President Dan Mote entered an agreement last week establishing future academic and research ties between the university and one in Ireland.
Mote signed a memorandum of understanding with President James Browne of the National University of Ireland, Galway, at a Nov. 25 meeting with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) in Annapolis, setting general goals for future cooperation between the two institutions.
"It's kind of like a handshake between friends," Mote said.
While the agreement does not set any specific initiatives in motion, Mote said that most successful international programs begin with this type of agreement, and both universities have expressed interest in exchanging faculty and students.
The agreement paves the way for further expansion of international partnerships, a major focus of the university's 10-year growth plan that has prompted Mote to travel on outreach missions across the globe.
The university currently has more than 200 similar memoranda signed with institutions worldwide, said Saúl Sosnowski, associate provost of international affairs.
O'Malley brokered the deal as a way of diversifying the state's biological science and technology fields, which are focal programs at both universities, O'Malley's spokesman Shaun Adamec said.
O'Malley also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Irish university in June.
Mote expressed a personal interest in collaborating with the Irish institution and said interaction between the two will not be limited to the sciences, but will incorporate any areas of study that prove mutually beneficial, using engineering, business and medical technology as examples.
"It's one of the model countries in the world that has turned itself around by investing in knowledge," Mote said in reference to Ireland's economic growth, which until recently had been booming after years of virtual poverty.
The university, which is on Ireland's west coast, is a perfect candidate for partnering with the university, said Patrick O'Shea, an Irish native who chairs this university's electrical and computer engineering department and has worked for years to recruit Irish students to the campus.
The universities are similar in size, have a similar national academic standing and share interests in fields like medical technology, mathematics and engineering, he said. Both also share a common history and language, which can make collaboration with Ireland easier than with other foreign institutions.
However, with the memorandum's initial step complete, it now falls upon faculty to reach out to one another and explore partnerships.
"Unless they're followed by action, not a lot happens," O'Shea said of these agreements.
Mote agreed, saying faculty must now interact with their counterparts in Galway.
The university currently stands as one of the top 20 in the country for the size of its international population, according to the university's international programs website.
The university offers only short-term study abroad programs in Ireland during the summer, but if students show a greater interest, the agreement could provide a basis for creating traditional semester-long programs, Mote said.
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