Over the past 44 years, the Aquinas College programme has become much more than an educational programme with many relationships being formed, lifelong friendships being developed and wide-ranging personnel exchanges across the Atlantic. Aquinas College has so far probably brought more than a thousand students and faculty to Tullycross not to mentioned the family and friends who also visit. These positive impacts brought forth Connemara West’s education-led local development  strategy in the late 2000s. It seeks to make Tullycross and the Renvyle Peninsula the destination of choice  for US colleges wishing  to provide their students with high-impact education practices in an Irish rural environment, and, in turn, be an economic, social and cultural stimulus for the Renvyle community. In partnership with Aquinas College, the company began to discuss how other US colleges could be brought to Tullycross.  In due course, these discussion led to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two organisations. Creating a residential education centre for research, education and community engage in Tullycross was one goal of that agreement.