Courtney McGrailOne of the largest Catholic universities in the US is to set to establish a campus in the coastal town of Dingle, Co. Kerry.
The new venture between Sacred Heart University (SHU) in Connecticut, University College Cork (UCC), Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and the Institute of Technology Tralee (ITT) is the first of its kind in Ireland.
A memorandum was signed in Dingle this week by SHU provost Laura Niesen de Abruna and representatives of the three other colleges.
The American university is already in the process of closing the sale of the Christian Brothers Schools and is about to begin a €1m refurbishment of the building.
SHU established a connection with Dingle in 2004 with Msgr Pádraig Ó Fiannachta of the Diseart Centre and offers short-term undergraduate study programmes each year in its Centre for Irish Cultural Studies.