€1.4 million awarded to SETU Waterford

€1.4 million awarded to SETU Waterford to expand apprenticeships across higher education

SETU Waterford is to benefit from a €1.4m capital funding to respond to the growing demand for apprenticeships in the higher education sector under plans announced today by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD.
The funding will be dispersed across four Technological Universities and one Institute of Technology in the higher education sector to deliver in the order of an additional 132 apprenticeship craft training blocks.

SETU Waterford will receive 6 additional blocks in plumbing, 6 in electrical and 3 in electronic security systems

This additional capacity is required to meet the increase in apprentice registrations as indicated by SOLAS in a number of trades.

Green Party TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh, a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Education, has welcomed the announcement, pointing to recent OECD reports highlighting the need for investment in trades to meet labour shortages in the economy.

‘Our committee has heard time and again how valuable and necessary these skills are in answering the challenges we have in housing and energy. People went away from the trades for a period of time, meaning we now have real recruitment challenges within our economy. The students training in these courses will very likely walk straight into jobs, and good jobs with real progression opportunities.’

‘The Joint Oireachtas Committee recently had an official visit to SETU Waterford, and one of the key discussion points which featured in our report was the need for the development of these facilities to help increase student numbers and improve learning outcomes. I’m very happy to see the Minister move in this direction with today’s announcement.’

Speaking today, Minister Harris said: “Today’s investment of €17 million will fund the delivery of 132 apprenticeship craft training blocks.
“This will provide additional capacity at Phase 4 and Phase 6 across four Technological Universities in our craft apprenticeships.
“The 132 apprenticeship craft training blocks announced today will support the expansion of registrations across numerous crafts including Electrical, Electronic Security Systems, Pipefitting, Plumbing, Metal Fabrication and Refrigeration & Air Conditioning and respond to a growing demand for learning through apprenticeship.
“This investment reaffirms once again the Government’s strong commitment to enhancing and expanding the apprenticeship system, putting apprenticeships at the centre of the education and training system by building on previous apprenticeship programme funding.
“But it is also critical to Government meeting our housing targets.”
Also included in this investment is an allocation of €220,000 to ensure SETU Carlow can procure all equipment required for delivery of Phase 2 and Phase 4 of their Aviation programme.
Minister of State Niall Collins said: “This Government has been relentless in promoting apprenticeships.
“To meet the demand, we must continuously invest in infrastructure. I am really pleased to see this investment being made across our TUs.
“It will help us grow our infrastructure and meet the demands of our growing apprenticeship population.”