THE Study USA programme run by the British Council was designed to assist with the peace process. It was developed in the 1990s and implemented by the Inter-Church Committee on Northern Ireland in partnership with the Training and Employment Agency (now subsumed into the Department for the Economy).
In 2014 former US President Clinton celebrated 20 years of the programme which now sends 50-60 students from Northern Ireland to the USA every year. Next year the project will celebrate 30 years and it’s keen to get the message out that it’s not just for degree-level students – HND and full time higher education college students are also welcome to apply.
The programme is funded by the Department for the Economy. Support is generous, including room and board for the academic year, a textbook allowance and one return flight to the US. Tuition fees are waived by the US colleges and over 30 years it’s estimated that equates to a sum of £60 million.
Katie Murphy from Wexford has recently returned from her Study USA trip. She told me she had originally applied on a whim to come to Belfast to study a Bsc in Fashion Production and Business at the Belfast Met, having never been to Belfast before. After seeing the Study USA opportunity in a college newsletter she immediately realised that the fully-funded offer was well over anything that was available to her in the South. After the Covid pandemic she thought it was really important to get out and about as much as possible.
Katie's tutor helped her get on track with the application which she says was "not too tricky" and after an interview she was offered a place. The Study USA programme has a team in the States which has relationships with over 140 colleges and helps place students. It also has someone solely responsible for supporting the students while in the US. The support offered was very welcome and very well organised, Katie told me.
Katie went to two places over a period of nine months – Ohio and New York – with a month home in Ireland for Christmas. Her first stop was Ohio and not having made a transatlantic flight before she was a bit nervous, but being met by college volunteers at the airport helped. She feels the two locations gave her an insight into different aspects of American life – one a small town rural experience where she took digital art classes which helped her portfolio for her second placement in the Big Apple.
Her New York campus was ten minutes from Time Square in the bustling fashion quarter of the city. Never having experienced a city that big, she surprised herself by figuring out the logistics quite quickly. During this experience she interned with Amari Carter from the Next in Fashion Netflix series and Jane Wade, who Vogue speculated may have been behind a powerful winter storm in New York by having a model carry a snowboard on the runway at New York Fashion Week.
Katie got to experience New York Fashion Week, not just from the side of the catwalk but in sourcing, dealing with suppliers and generally mucking in and dealing with people on a professional basis in a way that she never experienced before.
Her biggest lesson has been to network and build connections. She feels she has brought home a can-do attitude and now as she moves into her final year at college her experience has broadened and although she originally felt she wanted to get her education over with and move into the world of work, it has given her a taste of wanting to move further into education once her course is completed. She also appreciates Ireland in a different way. Having been connected to the New York art scene she has become more interested in connecting to the art scene locally. Her advice to anyone considering it is to just go for it.
Study USA is not just for rich kids or degree-level students – you must be studying full time at a college or university in Northern Ireland and be a UK or EU national. Applications are open in the autumn with interviews in January, but it’s never too early to consider this might be something to go for. As the next selected cohort meet up in Belfast this week to prepare for their trips, who are going to be the next students that will get an opportunity to go?
For more details go to www.nireland.britishcouncil.org/opportunities/study-usa or email study.usa@britishcouncil.org
