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Ireland's economy, once dubbed the Irish Tiger for its robust growth, may have gone into hibernation for a while, a victim of the global recession from which some European countries like Greece are still struggling to overcome.

But the tiger is awakening again, and there are lessons for Tampa, according to Mayor Bob Buckhorn. And UT students have a front row seat to it all, thanks to an innovative grant.

Danielle Lang ’17 is a government and world affairs major with a minor in law, justice and advocacy. She is spending the fall semester at Dublin City University enrolled in courses like Law of Tort, European Union Law, Foreign Policy and Psychology of Individual Difference and Diversity. Three more students will head to Trinity College for January term and spring semester 2016: Natalie Bock, a biology major and Honors student; Jonathan McMillan, an economics major; and Alexis McDuff, a nursing major.

“The courses are culturally different, because there are mostly Irish students in the classes who have different views on political issues and global affairs,” said Lang. “Studying abroad will also benefit me once I go into the legal field, because I am interested in international law and foreign policy and learning it from another view other than the United States is important.”

Lang is the first UT student to receive an Institute of International Education’s (IIE) Generation Study Abroad Scholarship. UT was selected for this grant based on its progress in offering a wide range of education abroad programming, including summer and semester abroad options, international internships, UT travel courses and service learning opportunities that incorporate practical, firsthand experience with an academic focus. The goal of the IIE scholarships is to help make study abroad opportunities accessible to all students, especially those that are typically underrepresented in U.S. study abroad.

“The scholarship has given me opportunities that I did not think would be possible,” said Lang, of Horsham, PA, who had never traveled abroad before going to Ireland. “The scholarship I was lucky enough to receive has helped me immensely and made it possible to study abroad. The desire to study abroad was always there; because of the scholarship, it became a reality.”

UT, as part of the Tampa Bay Trade and Protocol Council, was recently recognized by IIE as an outstanding contributor toward increasing international exchange and building a globally minded workforce in Tampa Bay, according to Marca Bear, associate dean of the International Programs Office. UT is one of only 10 universities around the country to secure scholarship grants to send students to Ireland.

"Dublin is strategically important in terms of technology and innovation and is home to one of the most talented pools of young leaders. Dublin’s Silicon Docks hosts Google and Facebook’s international headquarters and other major players like LinkedIn, PayPal, Amazon, Twitter and Zynga," Bear said. "The universities in Dublin are also extremely connected to their city and share a similar mindset to develop multicultural knowledge, careers and employability skills in all sectors and for graduates to become effective global citizens.”

Impressed with how Dublin is attracting these large companies, Tampa's mayor signed a sister city agreement with Ireland's capital city in September hoping to emulate the success of the Emerald Isle in drawing high-tech and social media companies, building a virtual super highway between the two cities, exchanging ideas and trade.

“They are setting up companies and creating jobs and creating wealth in Dublin and are attracting the best and brightest talent from around the globe,” Buckhorn told the Tampa Tribune after a trade mission to the city. “It reinforces for me everything we have done over the past five years to change Tampa’s economic DNA and move us to a place where talent wants to come.”