Brock President Jack Lightstone (left) and Satish Tripathi, President of the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, renewed a five-year partnership agreement between Brock and UB Friday.

Brock University and the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York renewed an agreement Friday that will see a partnership between the two universities extended another five years.

Officials from the University at Buffalo (UB) visited Brock for the signing ceremony, which means continued shared research and education initiatives. It also makes official a joint master’s program in Canadian and American studies, which begins in September.

The new program is a “big deal” for UB, said Charles Zukoski, UB Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs. It’s the first international program established by any state university of New York.

“It cements ties and it enhances educational opportunities for students,” Zukoski said. “We like to think of ourselves as an international university and this is an international opportunity to send our student abroad.”

Six students from each university will be part of the master’s program’s initial cohort. They’ll take classes and seminars, which include programming in English, history, child and youth studies, fine and performing arts, politics, economics and geography, on both sides of the border.

UB is home to 29,000 students, including 19,000 undergrads.

The partnership is an example of the interdependence that has always existed between western New York and Niagara, said Brock President Jack Lightstone.

“At the same time, society, culture and the economy have evolved differently on either side of the Niagara River as a result of an international border definitively drawn in the aftermath of the War of 1812,” Lightstone said.

“There is so much that Brock and UB can and must do to together to understand these dynamics and to better serve the economic, social and cultural development of our highly interdependent regions.”

The first partnership agreement between the two institutions was signed in 2007.