The 1,500 free part-time college places for unemployed workers will be available in 18 institutions around the country from September, it emerged today.
The Department of Education said undergraduate certificate and degree-level programmes which span the sciences, business, engineering and technology sectors will be in 13 institutes of technology, four universities and the National College of Ireland.
The scheme is part of the Government’s efforts to retrain and upskill the labour force who were made redundant in the economic downturn.
Applicants will be asked to confirm they have claimed jobseeker’s payment of at least six months or else provide a copy of form RP50 confirming they are entitled to statutory redundancy from their most recent employment.
Tuition fees will be covered and students will be entitled to retain their social welfare payments while on the course.
For details visit www.education.ie and contact the institutions directly.
Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe said the initiative, co-funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, is specifically aimed at upskilling and reskilling workers for jobs in the sectors of the economy considered key to tackling the recession and driving economic growth.
“The third-level sector has a critical role to play in helping unemployed workers develop the type of skills they need to get back into the labour force,” he said.
“Tuition fees will not be charged for these courses which will vary between one and four years in length.
“Students who get a job before their course finishes won’t have to pay tuition costs for that academic year.
“However, we’d hope that they’d choose to finish their course even after getting a job.”
Una Halligan, Director of Government Affairs at Hewlett Packard, was on the evaluation panel that selected the courses.
“The selected programmes will meet identified enterprise skills needs across areas such as manufacturing and internationally traded services and emerging green technology industries,” said Ms Halligan, chair of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs.
“The courses will cover good manufacturing practice and technology, supply chain management, electronic and renewable energy engineering, environmental and sustainable energy systems, biopharmaceutical and healthcare science, information technology management, business information systems and financial services.”
Elsewhere Fine Gael education spokesman, Brian Hayes, called on the education partners to use the September and October period as a time for a public discussion on possible savings within the education budget.
“It’s absolutely fanciful to think that the education budget, the third largest budget of any Government Department, can be immune from the adjustments that will take place in public expenditure next year,” said Mr Hayes.
“What is needed, in my view, is an honest and forthright debate on how we can protect the frontline services that exist within education. That can only happen where efficiencies and savings can be found in other areas.
“The education partners are perfectly placed to set out potential savings that could emerge.”
PA