There are more than 400 colleges in the US offering Irish studies programmes. According to the Guide To Irish Studies, published by the Irish Conference of Irish Studies, the courses, at both undergraduate and post-graduate level, include literature, history, the Irish language, social sciences, folklore, the arts and Irish-American studies. More recently, Irish studies has taken in women's studies, and Ireland in the context of post-colonial nations.

The American Conference for Irish Studies is a multidisciplinary scholarly organisation with a total of about 1,500 members in Ireland and Canada as well as the US. Its annual meeting in Florida last April had 140 contributors and between 300 and 400 participants, and it also publishes a newsletter, the Irish Literary Supplement, which carries extensive reviews of books and an annual volume of scholarly essays.

So far, most of the major centres for Irish studies in the US are the big Catholic colleges like Notre Dame in Indiana, Boston College, Villanova in Philadelphia and Fordham University in New York. However, New York University is about to appoint a director for its Irish studies programme, which has already received a shot in the arm with the donation of Ireland House as a centre for Irish studies and cultural activity, through the sponsorship of Irish-American benefactor Loretta Brennan Glucksman. Those involved in Irish studies expect this growth in non-Catholic colleges to continue.

The main centres also have links with Irish universities, and, in collaboration with them, offer travel-study options whereby American students come to an Irish university for periods ranging from weeks to a year. Notre Dame has a campus in Dublin, at Newman House, which it bought from UCD.