Trinity Signs Strategic Partnership with Columbia University
Posted on: 15 February 2018
Trinity College Dublin has joined forces with one of the US’s top universities, Columbia University in a strategic partnership. It will give students from all over the world the opportunity to study in these two globally renowned universities on both sides of the Atlantic. Trinity College’s Provost & President, Dr Patrick Prendergast and Columbia University’s Executive Vice President and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Professor, David Madigan signed the partnership agreement for Dual BA Programmes in the arts and humanities at a special US-Irish event stateside in Columbia University, with academics from both institutions in attendance along with Trinity alumni and Irish-Americans based in New York.
The newly launched programmes are unique in that students will graduate from the two leading universities with two degrees over the course of four years. The inaugural cohort will start this autumn where students will pursue a rigorous undergraduate education in the areas of the arts and humanities, spanning the two continents.
They will spend their first two years at Trinity, studying one of four areas—English Studies, European Studies, History, or Middle Eastern and European Languages and Cultures. They will then go on to study at Columbia for their second two years, completing a core curriculum and several majors.
The programme has proved extremely popular with prospective students, with a very high number of applications received from more than 20 countries worldwide, including Ireland, the US, UK, India, Brazil, Canada and China among many others.
It builds on the success of two other dual degrees, Columbia University already has with the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Sciences (Sciences Po) and City University of Hong Kong.
Commenting on the new programmes, Provost & President of Trinity College Dublin, Dr Patrick Prendergast said:
“This is an historic day for us, partnering with Columbia University, one of America’s leading universities. Trinity has produced some of the world’s great minds across the arts and humanities, including the Nobel Laureate, Samuel Beckett, and more recently the Booker Prize winner, Anne Enright. Similarly, the arts and humanities are pillars of Columbia University’s stellar reputation, bringing the world’s best art and ideas to our attention. Together, both institutions will draw on both the traditional and innovative, encouraging students to challenge themselves and develop an understanding of an increasingly globalised world. These Dual BA Programmes offer a truly international educational experience for our students.”
Columbia University’s Executive Vice President of Arts and Sciences, Professor David Madigan said:
“As EVP of A&S and Dean of Faculty, and as a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, I am proud to launch this important new programme. This new Dual BA Programme gives our students the opportunity to be exposed to ideas, literature, language, and culture through immersion into two of the best undergraduate programmes in the world. Trinity is a world-class university with many international partnerships and a vibrant and talented student body and we at Columbia University are thrilled to be its first partner in an undergraduate Dual BA programme. The collaboration between our faculties has created a Dual BA experience that combines the best of our academic programs, at a scale and depth that will benefit our students with an education that is both Irish and American.”
For full details on the programme click here
Applications are now closed for 2018. Applications for 2019 will open in summer 2018