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Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris has today (Tuesday, 1 June 2021) outlined a €225 million investment for further and higher education and research, under the Government’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The €225 million investment will include:
As part of the skills package, the Skills to Compete programme will be expanded for people who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, where their jobs are unlikely to return.
The programme aims to give them digital skills, and to reskill them in areas with immediate job opportunities. These areas include ICT programming, software and web development, healthcare assistants, special needs assistants and logistics.
Also, a new Green Skills Action programme will include a skills focus on areas such as nearly-zero energy building, retrofitting and specific skills for bricklaying, carpentry, electrics, plastering and plumbing.
Green skills training modules will be made available to 60,000 further education and training learners.
The TU Transformation Fund will accelerate the plans and mission of TU Dublin, Munster Technological University, AIT-LIT Consortium, Connacht-Ulster Alliance and the Technological University for the South East. The fund will be administered by the Higher Education Authority.
This funding will support TUs to reform academic programmes, including ways to learn and graduate, based on local, regional and national needs after the pandemic.
Supported activities include TUs and TU staff learning from the recent online education experience to look at new and flexible ways to respond to students and regional skills needs. It will see TUs offering enhanced learner access. TUs will also develop greater digital connectivity between themselves, staff, students and the society and enterprise in their regions.
Speaking today, Minister Harris said:
“The pandemic has disrupted economies worldwide and altered work mobility. While the future world of work is still uncertain, it is clear that COVID-19 has accelerated us towards a digitally dominated economy.
“Our education, research and innovation systems will therefore become even more important. To keep pace with future change and to ensure people can return to sustainable jobs, a higher and further education model centred on apprenticeships, transferrable skills and flexible education responding to evolving skills needs, and lifelong learning is required.
“This package announced by Government today will help us respond to these immediate challenges, while preparing for the challenges of future. The new National Grand Challenges Programme in research will see mission-oriented challenges used to incentivise researchers to deliver tangible impact for society in areas such as health, agriculture and climate.”