The “significant” role of universities and academics in bringing peace to Northern Ireland was highlighted as the UK and Ireland marked the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Queen’s University Belfast’s hosting of a major conference to mark the occasion has shown how politically neutral institutions are places where “communities are drawn together”, according to Richard English, director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.
Schools in Northern Ireland are still predominantly either Catholic or Protestant, so universities such as Queen’s have helped to bridge some of the country’s political and religious divides, he continued.
“In Northern Ireland, universities play an important role in terms of being the first place for most people where they are formally educated with someone from another community,” Professor English told Times Higher Education at the conference.
