Quest Campus / Daemen College

Study Abroad Program

Charleville Castle

Tullamore

Co. Offaly

Ireland

Please use the links on the left to access any specific required information or to return to the general Quest Information Pages. Otherwise the links below for other specific information.

Partner Colleges

Assessment and Credits

Program Costs

Accomodation

Tullamore and Quest Campus

PARTNER COLLEGES

Partnership in the program is open to all Universities and third level Colleges in the Buffalo-Niagara area. In fact, the program, for maximum impact, depends on the participation of a spread of Colleges. In this regard, it is hoped that both faculty and students will learn a great deal about Ireland, the Midlands, and the European Union, and become active participants in the promotion of the Atlantic Corridor Concept. The program will be geared towards the achievement of tangible outcomes, such as detailed analyses of resources and local infrastructures, discourses on cultural differences and sensitivities, concrete proposals for co-operation development and so on. Opportunities will surely arise for new ventures involving students on graduation.

Students will enrol in their home College. The program liaison officer in Buffalo, Niagara, etc., will work out the details. The course will commence with a local orientation program in the U.S., after which the students will fly to Ireland. The program will be administered, delivered and assessed by the International Institute at Quest Campus in close association with the partner Colleges. Faculty members will be welcome to participate on the program.

There will also be scope to develop or facilitate specific programs or activities requested by individual Colleges. Indeed, it is to be expected that Buffalo-Niagara Colleges will generate new opportunities from the proposed corridor.

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ASSESSMENT + CREDITS

The program has been designed, and will be delivered by leading Irish academics. The program is designed to provide a 16 credit equivalency. Contact hours is in excess of 20 hours per week. Each participant will benefit from 14 staff contact hours by way of Lectures, Seminars and Tutorials and 2 days of project work in self-organised action learning teams of 5. Project work will be closely monitored by the Course Leaders. Course Leaders will be available from intervention on demand during project work. Participants will undertake 14 hours of private study by assignment per week. Assessment is continuous, based on project reports, essays and conceptual proposals.

Preparatory lectures are designed to prepare the students to gain maximum benefit out of the seminars involving top experts. The lectures are backed up by a series of tutorials, with a focus on learning and investigative assignments.

The students will be organised into teams and will receive leadership, teamwork and inter-cultural skills training throughout the process.
Project assignments will involve research, observation and interviews, backed up by skills development and interpretative sessions.
Each group of students will maintain a close contact throughout the program with an experienced Irish course leader.
The Academic Council will issue transcripts to the partner University, verifying individual student performance.
A final report will be delivered by the International Institute at Quest Campus on CD-Rom for inclusion in the College Digital Library.
A committee of external examiners will be appointed from nominees put forward from the partner Colleges.

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PROGRAM COSTS

The individual students who join the program will pay a fee to their home College. The cost of the program will be US$7,000. A special fund is being set aside to provide a scholarship of US$3,000 to students nominated by faculty members. An assessment committee will make the final decision, based on a written application and reasoned recommendation from the faculty involved. It is to be expected that participating Colleges will add an additional charge for administration and faculty costs.

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Accommodation will be home-stay most of the time, with hostel type accommodation on study tours and internships. The cost of accommodation will vary in line with sharing arrangements.

Single Room $100 per week per person

2 Persons Sharing $65 per week per person

3 Persons Sharing $ 48 per week per person

4 Persons Sharing $ 40 per week per person

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TULLAMORE AND THE MIDLANDS REGION OF IRELAND

Ireland is an Island off the West Coast of Europe, with a total land mass in the order of 32,000 square miles, and a population of 5 million people. The Midlands Region covers 4 counties in Ireland, which come within 30 miles radius of Dublin. Tullamore, the Capital of the Region, is situated 64 miles west of Dublin, a one-hour train journey.

In spite of Ireland's strong higher education base, Quest Campus is building the first higher education Campus in the Region. The Region is moving now to participate in the information technology revolution, which has won for Ireland a position of strategic importance in the European Union. It might be said that the Region is ripe for development and is uniquely positioned to enter a strategic alliance with the Niagara Region through the Atlantic Corridor concept.

Although Tullamore is within easy reach of Dublin, a European Union Capital with a population of one million people, the area is uncluttered and unspoilt. It is the largest conurbation in the Region, with a population of 10,000 people in Tullamore itself, and a hinterland of no more than 45,000 people. The small population base and friendly community provide ideal conditions for social and cultural integration.

Tullamore, nonetheless, offers a springboard into the immense and growing market and population that is now either within the European Union or planned to be in the E.U. given the future prospects for it's expansion in extent.

Quest Campus is an international higher education foundation centred in Ireland. It has been formed to provide a development hub for the Midland Region.

Quest Campus is hosting a number of new institutions, with an excellent academic capability, and a unique focus on the international nature of modern development and the importance of developing strong learning competencies in a rapidly changing World. Rapid change itself calls for a return to broader based education and a higher degree of experiential learning.

The absence of other higher education facilities in the Region provides the Campus with both opportunity and challenge for moving forward in co-operation with existing institutions and Colleges. The unique opportunity presented by the creation of the Atlantic Corridor concept opens up the prospect of downstream co-operation between the Campus and higher education facilities in the Niagara-Buffalo Region.

Quest is headquartered in Charleville Castle, Ireland's most precious example of fine neo-gothic architecture. The Castle itself is situated on a 2,300 acre mix of pasture and indigenous oak parkland. The oldest oak tree in Ireland survives on Campus. The Castle gates are within Tullamore itself, within easy reach of the railroad and the centre of town.

Quest Campus will develop a series of extension facilities throughout the Midlands and in major urban centres. Among other unique functions of Quest, the Campus is working closely with the United Nations and the Irish Government in the development of international policies and programs for the family.