A group of education officials and teachers from Kosovo visited our Centre for Shared Education (CSE) in January to extend their knowledge and understanding of peacebuilding efforts through education in Northern Ireland and to explore the potential for adapting it within the Kosovan context.

The Kosovan visitors participated in a three-day workshop while in Northern Ireland, a collaboration between CSE, the British Council and Ulster University and supported by the Mayor of Kamenica (Kosovo) and the Kosovan Prime Miniter’s Office. The group heard from academics in CSE and Ulster and met with educators and Education Authority officials during a visit to the Ballycastle Shared Education Campus. They also had the opportunity to attend the History of the Troubles exhibition at the Ulster Museum. The visit builds upon a long-standing collaboration between educators in Kosovo and CSE. Follow-up activity is intended to initiate a first shared education school-based project between Albanian and Serb schools in the municipality of Kamenica.

Also in January, a group of academics and postgraduate students from Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen met with colleagues and a student from CSE to explore issues relating to the education system in Northern Ireland, social justice in education, and the role of education in divided societies. The visit was organised through the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education and the group also met with CSE associates in the School of Psychology at Queen’s University and with colleagues in Stranmillis University College, Belfast.