Skills

The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science’s Statement of Strategy sets out the vision for the department over the next three years. At the heart of the department is an objective to ensure everyone achieves their best potential, regardless of their background, age, gender, or address, whether that is through education or the workforce.

National Skills Strategy

The National Skills Strategy, 2016 to 2025 is the framework for skills development.

National Training Fund

The National Training Fund is a dedicated fund to support:

• training people in employment
• training people looking for employment
• researching existing and likely future skills requirements of the economy

National Skills Council and Regional Skills Fora

The National Skills Council and nine Regional Skills fora, created under the National Skills Strategy, encourage engagement and collaboration between government departments and agencies, the education and training system, and enterprise.

How Ireland measures and predicts what skills it needs

There are two entities that help to forecast Ireland's skills needs:

• Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (hosted in SOLAS)
• Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (hosted in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment)

Other skills organisations

While the department has responsibility for skills policy, this broader skills system informs and drives responsive, flexible forecasting, planning, and provision.

Further education and training

The further education and training sector has undergone transformational reform since 2013. The objective has been to bring cohesion to the sector, bringing together further education and training as a single sector.

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship mixes learning in an education and training provider with work-based learning. As an apprentice, you are an employee.

Higher education

Higher education in Ireland is provided by universities, technological universities, institutes of technology and colleges of education. As well as their core courses, higher education institutions offer upskilling and reskilling programmes through Item was unpublished or removed, and Item was unpublished or removed.

The system continues to roll out tailored responses under the July Stimulus. Efforts are also ongoing to make sure that skills options do not become cluttered, and that there is coherent information about opportunities for the public, and access to them.

To make sure the system continues to evolve and remain flexible, the Economic Recovery Plan includes a commitment to review Ireland’s skills strategies, architecture and approach, including the National Skills Strategy.

In partnership with the OECD, the department conducted an in-depth review of our skills strategies, approaches and structures in 2022. The review will conclude in early 2023. It focuses on four areas:

• balance in skills
• lifelong learning
• innovation
• governance