Seven people standing in a row holding signs that read 'skills that work' to celebrate the launch of Springboard+ 2022.
Fiona Davis, HEA; Sorcha Carthy, HEA; Minister of State Niall Collins; Minister Simon Harris; Dr Vivienne Patterson, HEA; and Ciara Manning and Ross O’Connor, both past Springboard participants. Image: Image: Marc O’Sullivan

Springboard+ 2022 to feature cybersecurity, AI and climate courses

25 May 2022

There are more than 10,500 free or subsidised places on this year’s Springboard+ courses to help people upskill in critical sectors.

Applications are opening from today (25 May) for 275 courses under Springboard+ 2022, the Government-backed programme for people who are looking to upskill.

There are 10,697 free and subsidised places on offer this year. Course topics include cybersecurity, AI, climate and sustainability, energy, health innovation and logistics.

There will also be 2,341 places on 90 graduate conversion courses, together with 890 places on 27 ICT courses funded on a three-year basis. These fall under the remit of the Human Capital Initiative (HCI) Pillar 1.

HCI provides additional capacity across Ireland’s higher education sector to meet priority skills needed for enterprise. Graduate conversion programmes under the HCI offer incentivised places for graduates to reskill in areas of shortage and emerging technologies. These are being run alongside, and complementary to, the Springboard+ offerings.

Springboard+ is aimed at people who are unemployed, self-employed, returning to the workforce or looking to change careers.

It provides higher education courses in industries that are affected by skills gaps. The courses are delivered by various public and private education providers around the country.

This year’s programme was launched today by Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris, TD, and Minister of State for Skills and Further Education Niall Collins, TD.

Harris said that upskilling and having a workforce equipped to deal with “new technologies and business practices” as well as “issues such as climate change” is important for Ireland’s post-pandemic development.

Flexible delivery

Collins pointed out that more than 95pc of this year’s courses would continue to be delivered in a flexible manner, “which will enable more people to engage in upskilling and reskilling around the country”.

Most courses are free or heavily subsidised and range from Level 6 to Level 9 qualifications. Courses are free for the unemployed, previously self-employed and returners to the workforce.

Courses are also free for employed people taking Level 6 courses. For employed participants on courses ranging from Level 7 to 9, 90pc of the course fee is funded by the State.

Springboard+ has been running for 11 years and more than 90,000 people have participated in the programme in that time.

To date, around €330m in funding has been allocated to the programme by the National Training Fund. This year, Springboard+ has been allocated €41.4m.

Candidates who wish to participate in Springboard+ 2022 or HCI Pillar 1 courses can find full details on the website.

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Blathnaid O’Dea
By Blathnaid O’Dea

Blathnaid O’Dea joined Silicon Republic in 2021 as Careers reporter, coming from a background in the Humanities. She likes people, pranking, pictures of puffins – and apparently alliteration.

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