A new scholarship fund, worth €200,000, is the first initiative from a partnership between Trinity Business School and the Ireland Funds Australia, which hopes to come up with new ways to use education to build connections between Australia and Ireland.
The partnership and the scholarship were announced on September 24th, by His Excellency Governor General of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove, during his visit to Trinity. The new scholarship, which is jointly funded by both Trinity and The Ireland Funds Australia, will be spread over the next five years, with the hope to improve support from Australian students who wish to do the masters’ in business administration.
In a statement, Cosgrove said that the focus on the master’s is “particularly fitting” when you consider the “business links between” Australia and Ireland.
“It is not only a valuable thing it is a powerful thing, the notion of these scholarships. I cannot think of a better investment in our future than supporting our bright young passionate Aussies”, Cosgrove continued.
Also speaking about the new partnership in a press statement, Dean of the Trinity Business School, Prof Andrew Burke said that the fund will “help build on the already extensive collaboration between Ireland and Australia” through the master’s programme in Trinity.
Burke described how Dublin is “developing skilled business leaders with a moral compass who will make a positive impact on business and society”, and that these new Australian students will add to the “impressive international MBA student body” and “enrich” the it further”.
The Ireland Funds is an organisation with 12 international chapters, and the Australian chapter is now celebrating its 30th birthday. It aims to use the global philanthropic network of “friends of Ireland” to support the development of Ireland and the rest of the world, whether that be education, culture or communities.
In a statement, Treasurer of The Ireland Funds Australia Yvonne Le Bas said that they “are excited that this cornerstone partnership will provide an amazing educational opportunity” for Australians for the next five years “to further develop their business and entrepreneurial skills”.
Trinity Business School has undergone rapid expansion in the last number of years. With construction of a new school well underway on the site of the Luce Hall, the school is also developing an innovation and entrepreneurship hub as well as a range of new master’s programmes. Last September, Trinity announced that it was launching a bachelor in business studies, as an alternative to the existing BESS entry route, where students specialised in business in their third year.
Speaking to The University Times last year, Burke explained that this new course is to help promote the school abroad, rather than “hidden in BESS”. This showed the school’s increased focus on internationalisation, as 50 of the 75 places were to be designated for international student.
