Updated: 15.28

KYLEMORE ABBEY IS not for sale, but it is teaming up with the University of Notre Dame to create a new academic centre of excellence.

The sisters from the Benedictine community confirmed the news in a statement, after speculation about the future of the abbey – which is located in Connemara, County Galway.

Notre Dame, a Catholic university located in Indiana, said the new centre will advance both organisations’ “shared spiritual, cultural and educational missions”.

Programming, which will include courses of varied length and span a variety of academic disciplines, is expected to begin in 2016.

The centre will be housed at the site of a former girls’ boarding school that closed in 2010, and the abbey will remain open to tourists.

Mother Maire Hickey, Kylemore’s abbess said she is “delighted that the University of Notre Dame has responded favorably to our invitation to join our community in advancing our educational and spiritual mission”.

“I have high hopes that this partnership will yield rich fruits for generations to come,” Hickey added.

James Carney AIPPA The agreement was formally signed last week. James Carney AIPPA

James Carney AIPPA James Carney AIPPA

The partnership is supported by Notre Dame trustee and Irish businessman, Martin Naughton, as well as a number of Notre Dame benefactors in the United States.

The university has partnerships in several countries, including one in Dublin that hosts academic programmes and summer internships for undergraduate and graduate students.

Have a look at some photos of the abbey to see why it attracts tourists of tourists each year: