The Business Education Initiative (BEI) is a program administered and delivered by the British Council on behalf of the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland, which is a public sector agency of the government of the United Kingdom. The program sends students from colleges and universities in Northern Ireland to study business and economics for a year in various church-related institutions in the United States, including Jamestown College. The Northern Irish students come primarily from Queens University-Belfast, the various campuses of the University of Ulster, and Belfast Metropolitan College.

The Business Education Initiative is a sucessful, innovative program aimed at offering undergraduate students studying in Northern Ireland the opportunity to study business and management in the United States. Its purposes are:

Through study outside their home country, these students gain confidence in themselves, enhance their skills, enlarge their experiences, and boost their qualifications. When they return to Northern Ireland with new talents at their disposal, they will help the country to lay fresh foundations for economic prosperity. It is also expected that the program will make a positive and valuable contribution to the process of finding a lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

However, the BEI program is not all "one-way traffic." In return, Jamestown College enjoys the collateral benefit of gaining a rare insight into Irish culture--its problems, its strengths, and its hopes for the future--and our students have the opportunity to experience first-hand international contact. Consequently, the BEI program provides the opportunity for Jamestown College and its Center for Excellence in Business to enhance further the internationalization of its programs and co-curricular activities.

Since 1990, the Inter-Church Committee in Northern Ireland has brought Catholic and Protestant leaders from Ireland and the United States together in order to facilitate closer relations. This group analyzed issues of mutual concern related to the conflict in Northern Ireland and then encouraged worthwhile ecumenical activities. Out of these discussions came a proposal that the Training and Employment Agency (T&EA), now the Department for Employment and Learning, a public sector agency within the government of the United Kingdom, send college students to the United States for a year's study away from "The Troubles," as the conflict in Northern Ireland has been called. The T&EA enthusiastically supported the idea. Recognizing that the program could potentially have an impact on Northern Ireland's historically high unemployment, the T&EA assigned it to its Business Support Division, and called it the Business Education Initiative (BEI).

The BEI sought partnership with American colleges and universities that were affiliated with the Catholic, Presbyterian, United Methodist, and Episcopal churches in the United States. The program received the endorsement of President Bill Clinton and has enjoyed backing in both London and Washington. Financial support comes from the Department for Employment and Learning. The U.S. colleges and universities contribute the tuition for the students while the program pays for all of the other costs associated with bringing the students to the United States. The British Council and staff of the BEI, located in Belfast, are responsible for the administration of the program, which includes selecting and placing the students, providing support services, and paying the bills. Executives from the church denominations affiliated with the program also provide direct support and serve as liaisons between the program and the church.

When the pilot program began in 1994, the program placed 19 students in 11 American colleges and universities. Currently, 100 students are enjoying the benefits of placements throughout the United States. To date, over 1400 Northern Irish students have benefited through their participation in the program in over 100 colleges and universities in the United States. Jamestown College and the Center for Excellence in Business have participated in the BEI program since 1997 and have hosted a total of 14 Northern Irish students.