LIT To Offer New Part Time Courses for Unemployed

LIT will offer seven new full and part time programmes under the Governments Springboard initiative which was announced by The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn and the Minister of State for Training and Skills, Ciarán Cannon last week.

The programmes which are in the expanding enterprise areas of the green economy and international selling are free, part-time and will be offered in both LIT’s Limerick and Tipperary campuses. A higher certificate in Engineering in Electrical Installation and a Building CAD (BIM) with Revit Architecture will be offered with a further 5 programmes being offered in Renewable Energy and Marketing with French/German, among others.

Announcing the Springboard 2012 programme Minister Quinn said: “The Government is committed, through the Action Plan for Jobs, to supporting business to create jobs and getting growth back into the economy. Springboard is providing a dynamic pipeline of job-ready graduates with the skills and qualifications that the expanding growth sectors of our economy need.”

Over 3,500 people nationwide are due to graduate this month from the first round of Springboard programmes, which were put in place in 2011. A number of changes to Springboard 2012 have been introduced in response to feedback on last year’s first phase of Springboard.

The eligibility criteria have been expanded to include people who were previously self-employed and people in receipt of an extended number of social welfare payments such as the Disability Allowance and the Carer’s Allowance. A Freephone Guidance line 1800 303523 is also being put in place to assist people with course choices and applications.

Minister Cannon said: “This Government is determined that, as the economy recovers, unemployed people will be supported to return to employment by accessing re-skilling opportunities appropriate to their needs. An expansion of Springboard in 2012 is one of the commitments provided for in “Pathways to Work”.

“ Speaking about the Springboard initiative at LIT President Dr Maria Hinfelaar said, “I look forward to welcoming the Springboard students to LIT and I hope that, literally, our courses will provide them with a springboard to their future careers.

Further Information on all the courses offered is available at www.lit.ie/springboard

Applications for Springboard programmes will be managed through a central online information and applications system www.springboardcourses.ie
Full details on the available courses and the eligibility criteria can be found on the website.