During former US President Bill Clinton’s recent visit to Belfast he revealed plans for a major revamp of the centre that will involve a link-up between Ulster University, Dublin City University, and the University of Massachusetts. The project will see students from the US, Ireland and beyond studying in the town as earlier as next summer. 

The plan is for the centre to host year-long, semester-long, and summer school programmes with a focus on peace building. Locals will not be left out either, with summer school programmes on women in leadership and programmes on social entrepreneurship for people in the local area planned too. 

The renewal project will also include an interactive interpretative centre on the peace process and a memorial to those who died in the Enniskillen bomb, while artist Colin Davidson’s exhibition “Silent Testimony”, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement next year, will be at based at the centre for six months. 

In recent years the Clinton Centre has been lying largely idle, used mainly by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council as a gallery for periodic art exhibitions. This project, which is being financed by fundraising on both sides of the Atlantic as well as government investment, is aimed at renewing the peace-building potential envisioned for the centre when President Clinton opened it in 2002. 

Speaking last week, President Clinton said: “I’m incredibly honoured that the Centre will make a contribution in shaping what I believe is the most interesting time in human history.

“Good citizenship in the 21st century requires us all to find ways to expand the definition of ‘us’ and shrink the definition of ‘them.’ So, I’m grateful that the Centre will continue to be a place that supports and empowers students from all over the world with the tools they need to create better tomorrows.”

DUP leader Arlene Foster said the project would be bring great benefits to Fermanagh. 

“The collaborative nature of this project, working in partnership with the three universities who will deliver a significant academic programme, is a model that will benefit all involved as well as boosting the entire area.”