In this Internationalisation summer edition of Cois Coiribe, our academics and university community delve into the impact and value of internationalisation on NUI Galway and its community and discuss the importance of being a Global University.

We continually strive to ensure our university is at the cutting edge of global research and education but even more so that we are open, accessible, and welcoming to the World. Through our Global Galway project, our vision to be a global university is one that is experienced by our students, staff, alumni, and the communities we reach locally and internationally globally.

Our students define who we are and how we embrace diversity as a University. With thousands of international students studying at NUI Galway their experiences are at the heart of what makes us a Global University. The anthology of their voices breaths internationalisation into life and charts what it means to seek new opportunities in a foreign land in the midst of a pandemic.

Alongside this, Professor Geraint Howells, Dean of our College of Business, Social Sciences and Law, shares his passion for internationalisation by drawing on personal and professional experiences, and tells us why he believes internationalisation is an important part of NUI Galway’s future.

The World is facing unprecedented challenge in the shape the climate emergency, the digital transition, mediating inequality, the degradation of democracy, the threats to biodiversity and a host of other wicked Global problems. Research and innovation is at the heart of tackling these problems but how do we steer ourselves through this level of change? Professor James Livesey, Vice President for Research and Innovation, NUI Galway discusses NUI Galway and the Emerging World of Research and Innovation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised the need for interconnectedness and a global approach to education. Dr Murray Scott reveals how we can ensure this interconnectedness in business schools, while Dr. Theodorus Fransen & Dr. John McCrea take a look at ‘How Computers Can Future-Proof Minority Languages’  by using digital language tools.

From our School of Medicine, Prof. Dearbháile Morris & Dr. Georgios Miliotis discuss tackling the pressing threat of superbugs through a Global One Health approach, and Dr Finn Hawkins describes his journey from graduating with a degree in Medicine from NUI Galway to battling the COVID Pandemic in the USA.

Creating and fostering international collaborations and academic links is key to any successful internationalisation effort. Professor Laoise McNamara shares her journey from NUI Galway to Notre Dame, and Dr Yvonne Finn speaks of setting up a complex health partnership in Kenya.

Meanwhile,Professor Rebecca Braun, Dean of our College of Arts,Social Sciences and Medicine, uses delightful imagery to explore the languages of internationalisation, and considers the importance and value of welcoming and appreciating linguistic diversity.

It is not only students who join us from all around the World, international staff member Professor Michal Molcho, Vice Dean for Internationalisation, leading the internationalisation strategy in the College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies, arrived at NUI Galway to do a post-doctoral fellowship in 2005. Seventeen years on, she talks of his experiences of starting a new life in Galway. While Mr Manigandan Chockalingam, also an international staff member, shares his experiences of the pandemic and the need for connectivity.

The interwoven web of stories and experiences shared through this edition of Cois Coiribe are an allegory for internationalistion in their own right. Every international journey is unique and important, when added together they tell the story of why internationalisation matters to us at NUI Galway and why we are enhanced and enriched through our commitment to it.