Fionnuala’s US scholarship success

She will be among 61 students from across Northern Ireland on the Study USA programme, which enables students to study business or STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths) subjects for a year in American colleges, across 28 States, helping to develop their career prospects when they return to Northern Ireland.

The British Council, which is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations, manages Study USA on behalf of the Department for the Economy – and since its formation in 1994, the initiative has sent over 2000 students from Northern Ireland to all four corners of the United States.

Fionnuala (20), is currently an Economics student at Queen’s University Belfast. She is heading to McKendree University, Illinois.

She said: “I wanted to experience something new and the Study USA programme provided the perfect opportunity for this.

“The programme offers both a once in a lifetime opportunity and an incredibly generous scholarship.

“Going to America as a student will allow me to fully immerse myself in the life and culture of America and provides an excellent opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone and challenge my beliefs.

““As the programme has a business focus, I will be taking classes that I have not studied before, such as Marketing and Management.

“This is going to make my university experience more rounded and will provide me with many skills I would not have developed had I solely studied Economics.

“I have the opportunity to explore new interests, improve my knowledge and develop transferrable skills.”

The Study USA programme was postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has been decided that the programme can proceed this academic year. Applications for Study USA 2022/23 will open in late Autumn.