English UK is delighted to welcome its newest geographical sub-group, English UK Northern Ireland.

The group was formed in early 2012 with all six English UK members in Northern Ireland as members: International House Belfast, Foyle Language School, North West Academy, Queens INTO, the University of Ulster and Belfast Metropolitan College.

Founder member Paul McMullan, principal of IH Belfast, said: "It made sense to form English UK NI as it gives us much more power as an active body in approaching and working with our tourist and other organisations.

"What we're trying to do is pull together not only the English UK Northern Ireland members but the many other bodies, government and otherwise, involved with tourism and inward investment. We want to be working together to put Northern Ireland on the map," he said.

The group plans to create a website as soon as possible as well as working together to organise inbound familiarisation trips for agents. It also intends to invite tourism and investment groups to its regular meetings.

Mr McMullan said there were many factors making Northern Ireland an excellent destination for EL students, including comparatively low costs, safety, and the fact that does not have high numbers of international students already.

"It's a very exciting time to come to Northern Ireland as it's really going from strength to strength," he said. "Last year we had the MTV awards, this year there's the opening of the new MAC arts centre and the Titanic exhibition."

For more information, please contact paul@ihbelfast.com.