Department of Education offers various free courses for the workers in Ireland

The Irish Department of Education with free courses to nurture the skills of workers in Ireland who have been adversely affected by Covid.

The Department of Education is providing more than 14,000 free, subsidized higher education courses for workers who lost their livelihoods during the Covid crisis in areas ranging from data analytics to manufacturing.

The 30 million plan includes a number of short-term, standalone modular courses, as well as full-time and part-time postgraduate courses.

Courses will be made available to returnees, current employees and recent graduates.

Except for those who want to return to work, the rest will have to pay 10 per cent of the course fee.

Recipients of welfare payments, including the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, also have the opportunity to take part-time courses.

The courses will be made available to the people in a convenient manner. This will enable people to acquire better skills in a shorter period of time. In addition, it will help one to look for new job opportunities.

Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said the courses are being funded under the government’s employment stimulus package to help bring people struggling in the Covid crisis back to work.

Short modular courses are offered at approximately 11,600 locations and postgraduate courses at 2,500 locations.

He said that high quality courses will nurture people’s skills and enable them to acquire new skills and courses will be made available to people across the country.

He said people will have at least a Level Eight (Honors Degree) qualification or equivalent to gain admission to the course. Eligibility for each course may vary depending on the nature of the course.

Eligible applicants must be residents of Ireland. In addition, nationality and EU residency rules applicable to courses under the Springboard program must be complied with.

More than 500 modular courses are being offered as part of the scheme at 32 higher education institutions. People can easily complete these courses.

The minister said the new skills would benefit their careers and create new opportunities.

There will be 207 courses available for postgraduate courses in 23 public and private higher education institutions.

It also includes courses in a wide range of specialties, including data analytics, environment sciences, engineering, tourism and hospitality, ICT, and medical technology, as well as health and wellness.

Course details will be available on the Higher Education Authority’s website shortly.

Website: hea.ie