TCD and University of Missouri’s Schools of Education Form Research Partnership

Posted on: 29 January 2009

The Schools of Education in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and the University of Missouri (MU) have established a new research partnership, which will enable their respective institutions to build collaborative and complementary strengths.

The primary focus of this collaboration concerns teaching and research however the relationship will also enable students of TCD and MU an opportunity to study abroad and discover common interests with their international counterparts.  The Schools of Education in both institutions are engaged in research in a wide range of areas related to the study of education and both have common interests in areas such as maths and science education, assessment, inclusive education, leadership and management, and information and technology. 

Commenting on the partnership, head of TCD’s School of Education, Dr Michael Shevlin said: “The partnership with the University of Missouri offers Trinity staff and students a unique opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from a world renowned institution on educational issues, affording a more international perspective, which can only serve to inform public policy on either side of the Atlantic”. 

A Memorandum of Understanding to mark this new partnership was formally signed on January 16th last by the Chancellor of MU, Brady Deaton and the Provost of TCD, Dr John Hegarty.  The foundations for this alliance were formed by Dr Steven Osterlind, Professor of Measurement & Statistics at MU, who lectured at TCD in 2004, and the former Chair of the School of Education, Dr Valentine Rice.  The pair set the ground work in motion for establishing a sister-university relationship between MU and TCD with the hope of extending TCD’s long history of higher education across the globe by encouraging faculty exchanges for lecturing and research. 

Dr Steven Osterlind, MU, and the Provost of TCD, Dr John Hegarty.