December 2000

Release date: 21 December, 2000 Poland honours NUI Galway Lecturer Dr. Oliver Ryan, a lecturer at the Department of Education, National University of Ireland, Galway has been awarded "The Knights Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland" (Krzyz Kawalersky Orderu Zashugi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej). The Polish Ambassador Janusz Skolimonwski, made the presentation on behalf of the Polish Government, at a reception in NUI, Galway, hosted by Professor Ruth Curtis, Vice-President for Development and External Affairs. Dr. Ryan has been working closely with a number of Polish Universities and Teacher Training Colleges since 1991. He has co-ordinated five major TEMPUS programmes, on behalf of the EU and during that time, has organised programmes in NUI, Galway for 407 students and 264 lecturers from the various colleges. The programmes included English Language Teacher Training; European Life and Institutions; Modernisation of Primary Health Care in Poland; and Poland and the European Union. All of the programmes resulted in a restructuring of courses in the Polish Colleges and in the provision of additional teaching equipment. In 1995 NUI, Galway signed protocol agreements with the Universities of Poznan and Katowice. Dr. Ryan has already been awarded the Marie Curie Medal (1993) by the University of Lublin, The Medal of Honour (1994) by the University of Silesia and the Medal of Distinction (1997) by AMU University. Ends Information from: Máire Mhic Uidhir, Press Office, NUI, Galway. Tel. 091 750

Release date: 20 December, 2000 Major award for NUI Galway Human Rights Expert Professor William Schabas, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, which is based in NUI, Galway has been awarded the Medal of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law. The presentation was made at an International Conference in Johannesburg, where Professor Schabas was delivering a paper on "Fair Trial and Fit Punishment: How International Human Rights is Transforming Criminal Justice". The opening address of the conference was delivered by former South African President, Dr. Nelson Mandela. The International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law is an international non-governmental association of judges, legislators, lawyers, academics, and governmental officials, who have come together to work actively on the administration of criminal justice both in their own jurisdiction and internationally. The Society publishes the Criminal Law Forum , whose current editor in chief is Professor William Schabas. The Forum is intended to promote new thinking about the fundamental principles of criminal law, to encourage comparative criminal law analysis, and trace the development of new international criminal law. Established in 1987, when over 200 experts from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, other Commonwealth Countries, the United States, Europe, and Israel, gathered at the Inns of Court in London, to discuss the reform of criminal law and the criminal justice system, the Society encourages joint research and policy development among individuals and government bodies from different jurisdictions. The Society participates as a professional organisation in the work of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program, through the International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council. Members of the Society have participated in numerous UN meetings. In September 1991, the Society was accorded observer status on crime problems, by the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The Society s participation in the work of the Council in this area provides criminal justice policy makers in Europe with another valuable link with their counterparts in the jurisdictions in which the Society has members. Professor Schabas recently published Genocide in International Law, which is currently being used by lawyers dealing with the criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Ends Information from: Máire Mhic Uidhir, Press Officer, NUI, Galway. Tel. 091 750418

Release date: 11 December, 2000 NUI Galway establishes unique initiative with Polish College NUI, Galway has been co-operating with the prestigious Wroclaw University of Technology (WUT) in Poland for more than seven years under the EU Tempus Programme, whereby students and staff from Wroclaw came to Galway to study. However, Irish students tended to favour the UK, US, France and Germany for their study-abroad periods. That is now set to change as a result of a new agreement signed between NUI, Galway and Wroclaw University, with the support of a Polish bank. Academic staff from WUT visited Galway last week to attend a function in the Universiry marking the signing of the new agreement. The agreement provides for six NUI, Galway undergraduate students (mainly from the Faculty of Engineering) to go to Poland for their Professional Experience Programme activity. Four Polish postgraduate students will come to Galway to undertake Masters or Doctoral studies in the Faculties of Science or Engineering. The distinctive element of the agreement is the support of Bank Zachodni, WBK, AIB Group, Wroclaw. The total cost of the initiative is estimated to be £130,000, with Bank Zachodni providing £38,000 over a three-year period and NUI, Galway supplying the remainder. "We are delighted to be partners with this prestigious university. Wroclaw University of Technology with its 27,000 students is an exciting and pioneering institution in a country which is perceived as the economic leader in Eastern Europe", said Professor Ruth Curtis, Vice-President for Development and External Affairs at NUI, Galway. "I believe the benefits of this new agreement to students of both universities will be most beneficial and worthwhile". Ends Information from: Máire Mhic Uidhir, Press Officer, NUI, Galway. Tel. 091 750418