April 2005 NUI Galway confers Ireland's first Master of Fine Arts degrees

History will be made today (Monday), when the first conferral of the degree of Master of Fine Arts in this State will take place in the Burren College of Art (BCA) at Newtown Castle, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare. The degrees will be conferred by National University of Ireland, Galway on seven students from USA, Canada, Africa and Ireland, at a ceremony attended by the Presidents and senior Faculty members of the BCA and NUI Galway.

The Master of Fine Arts is a joint NUI Galway-Burren College of Art two-year fulltime postgraduate degree programme, based in the Burren College of Art. The programme is offered in association with two of the world's leading art schools – the Royal College of Art, London and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Dr Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, President of NUI Galway said: "Over the years the Burren College of Art has established itself as a vibrant, global, artistic educational centre with international affiliations and accreditations and NUI Galway is very pleased to be a partner with the College in this joint initiative, drawing on our long-standing strengths in preserving and developing our cultural heritage and fostering artistic creativity and imagination. We at the University see our involvement with the Burren College of Art through this programme as an integral part of our strategic aims to support educational development and training in the west region."

Mary Hawkes-Greene, President of the Burren College of Art said: "Organically integrated into its local community and space, Burren College of Art is already well known across the USA and increasingly across Europe as one of the most distinctive independent art colleges in the world. It is also one of the smallest, catering for only 60 students. With the completion of its magnificent state of the art studios, the opening of which coincided with the first Masters' degree show, the Burren College provides what successful artists thrive on and what emerging artists need – the time represented by a high level of individual tuition from top class resident and visiting artists, the space afforded by 200 sq. ft. studio space for each graduate student with 24 hr. access, 7 days a week and finally, the inspiration which can be drawn in abundance from the spectacular Burren landscape, free from urban distraction."

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