English UK visit Northern Ireland 

English UK and representatives of its four Northern Ireland members had a productive meeting on Thursday 16 January with Annette Palmer, Acting Director of Tertiary Education at the Department for the Economy in the Northern Ireland Executive. Attending the meeting were Huan Japes of English UK, Paul Murray of Foyle International, Aine Murray of Foyle International, Tere McBurney of Belfast Metropolitan College, Duanes Santos of International House Belfast and Francesca Giacomini of North-West Academy who is also an English UK trustee.

We were able to discuss the unique position of the English language teaching industry in Northern Ireland, the competition our centres face from schools in the Republic of Ireland and how the Northern Ireland Executive can help the industry to grow. There is huge potential for growth in the country, with excellent, friendly study destinations (Belfast, Derry/ Londonderry), good accommodation capacity, relatively low costs and some wonderful attractions such as the Giants Causeway and Belfast's Titanic Museum.

Proposed actions included linking Northern Ireland members with tourism and development organisations such as Tourism NI and InvestNI, creating links with the Republic via representation for ELT on all Ireland forums and stakeholder groups, and liaising with the Home Office on immigration concessions for those travelling between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We hope this will be the start of a long and fruitful partnership to promote this wonderful country to English language students.

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