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St Mary’s is a Catholic Higher Education Institution which
specialises in the education of teachers and also offers a Liberal
Arts degree programme. Our academic community works within a framework
of religious, academic, civic and professional values and seeks
to facilitate the integration of Christian faith and learning. We
place the greatest emphasis on respect for the dignity of the human
person and on promoting excellence. |
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The identity of the College today is defined by a fundamental and
distinctive characteristic which remains as it was in 1900 when
the Diocese of Down and Connor entrusted the Dominican Sisters with
the work of training teachers. St Mary’s has the Christian
faith embedded in its identity enabling a form of educational provision
which emphasizes coherence as well as interconnectedness and furthermore
has been demonstrated to be successful. |
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The Christian ethos at the heart of the College identity is a defining
characteristic of over twelve hundred other Catholic universities
and colleges as well as thousands of Catholic schools worldwide.
The culture of the College is one of openness, inclusion and collaboration,
enabling it to interact effectively with other institutions of higher
education, particularly Queen’s University with whom we are
academically integrated. We share our approach of Christian faith
embedded in our identity with over five hundred local schools in
the Catholic education sector of which St Mary’s is an integral
part in Northern Ireland. At the same time we share with all educational
institutions in the jurisdiction common aims for our education system
with regard to the wellbeing and development of children, citizens,
society and economy. At St Mary’s we believe that differentiated
educational provision reflects the choices of citizens in a democratic
and pluralistic society. In that regard St Mary’s is open
to anyone who seeks to study or work in the College and who has
the requisite qualifications and experience. |
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The education we offer our students has a profound sense of the
sacred dignity and value of every human person, made as we believe
we are in the image and likeness of God. We believe that this has
to be more than a glibly trotted out cliché: in our increasingly
secular and materialistic world, St Mary’s serves the common
good by the quality of our testimony to this truth. Through hard
work and commitment, we have gained a sterling reputation for pastoral
care and for the intellectual, moral, social and spiritual development
of our students. Our approach to education is ambitious for the
students: it wants each and every one of them to recognise and develop
their own gifts and talents to the highest level, and then to use
them, not merely for their own benefit, but in the service of their
neighbours. This represents excellence in education from our perspective.
Our successful approach to student formation reflects the distinctive
identity of the College and we wish to both celebrate this and communicate
it widely. |
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At St Mary’s we place great emphasis on a sense of community.
The very nature of human beings is that we are communal creatures.
We live and grow in community. We cannot survive and thrive without
community. Therefore, to speak of the dignity of the person makes
sense only if it is done in the context of the person’s relationships
within the wider society. This is a difficult truth to be taught,
particularly in our time, when individualism is a dominant and sometimes
rampant cultural force. An education at St Mary’s aims to
enable students to be part of an educational community which cherishes
the concept of communal support as well as mutual understanding
and enrichment and calls our students to develop a broader vision
for society and for social justice in particular. St Mary’s
continues to develop and enhance its distinctive identity and, in
particular, to engage with staff and students about the College’s
fundamental and distinctive character and its core convictions.
By promoting self-evaluation and reflection on the nature of its
identity, St Mary’s both strengthens its distinctiveness and
contributes to a process of self-improvement. |
