Consul General Janice McGann, the consul general of Ireland to Toronto, participated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Ontario's public colleges and post-secondary leaders in Ireland to strengthen the programs and research opportunities for students.
She joined the presidents of Ontario's 24 public colleges, leaders from the technological universities from Ireland, and representatives from Colleges Ontario, Ireland's Technological Higher Education Association, Enterprise Ireland and others at a signing ceremony in Toronto.
"This is a great opportunity to share the expertise from Ontario and Ireland to develop enhanced opportunities for students, faculty and staff," said Marketa Evans, the president and CEO of Colleges Ontario. "Our public colleges have a great partnership with the Irish institutes and we're very pleased to further our collaborations with them."
The Ontario public colleges and the Irish institutes have agreed to explore opportunities to jointly develop and deliver programs and to collaborate on events to promote research partnerships with businesses.
The post-secondary leaders from Ontario and Ireland have been collaborating since 2011, when they signed Canada's first-ever system-to-system agreement. Prior to then, the public colleges' agreements with institutions in other countries were only between individual institutions.
The agreement has allowed Ontario public college students to pursue further studies in Ireland and has allowed Irish students to study in Ontario. This included opportunities for graduates of the diploma programs at Ontario's public colleges to enrol in degree programs in Ireland.
The collaboration has also created more professional development opportunities for faculty and staff in Ontario and Ireland and facilitated new partnerships in applied research.
"I was delighted to attend the signing of this memorandum of understanding today," Consul General McGann said. "Ireland and Canada enjoy excellent bilateral relations. Our ties are strong and diverse, spanning centuries and a range of areas.
"People-to-people links - including through further and higher education - are the bedrock of this. The creation of opportunities for more learning, research and collaboration between student and faculty members in Ireland and Ontario is to be warmly welcomed. The signing of this MoU is a representation of the ever-deepening links between Ontario and Ireland."
