BDIC, VICE PRINCIPAL DR. AILISH
O’HALLORAN, RECOUNTS WHY THE
PROJECT STARTED AND GIVES HER
ASSESSMENT.
Beijing Dublin International College (BDIC) is a joint college of University College Dublin (UCD) and Beijing University of Technology (BJUT) initiative and was established
in 2012. We currently have 748 students, all Chinese enrolled in three programmes.
When I started my role at BDIC I came to Beijing for
two months. Keen to develop a social network in Beijing I
thought Beijing GAA would be a good place to start. Just
two weeks after my first training session the club were off to
compete in the All China Games in Shanghai and were short
a female player for their panel, so I was delighted to join in
– a great weekend of football and celebration was had by all.
Chinese colleagues are always curious how we foreigners
spend our weekends. When I described the activity to my
Chinese colleague Cai Lijia he said they were keen for BDIC
students to experience such Irish activities and suggested introducing it as an option on the students’ Physical Education
curriculum if there were any coaches available. I tentatively
put this proposition to Colm Walsh (Beijing GAA chairperson) and it was met with interest and enthusiasm. Colm and
Steve Lillis (since departed Beijing) took the lead in training
the students in the first two semesters and with their enthusiasm for the initiative they have encouraged up to 10 club
members to come out to help training the BDIC students
different Saturday mornings. This has given the students an
opportunity to engage with a wider group of Irish people.
I’m delighted with how things have turned out - much better than I could have anticipated. Colm and Steve achieved
their goal of taking the first all Chinese male team to compete in the All China Games in Hong Kong back in June.
Again this same BDIC team entered the Asian Games in
Shanghai in October. Not deterred by her male counter-
26
Dr. Ailish O’Halloran
parts one determined female student lined out for Beijing
GAA ladies in both completions.
I have seen a marked benefit in all the students who have
taken part in BDIC Gaelic Football training. The engagement
they have had with Irish and Westerns’ at training sessions,
GAA reception hosted by the Embassy, Gaelic football fun
days and completion weekends has had a tremendous impact
on these students ability to communicate freely in English.
There is a notable ease in their engagement with foreigners
which is very difficult to achieve. They’ve also gotten a great
insight into the community spirit GAA brings to a group