University of Limerick awarded €16m to build platform for the 'future of work'
University of Limerick: Innovative methods of teaching and delivery will be promoted.
More than €16m is to be allocated to University of Limerick under the Human Capital Initiative to “build a flexible, technology-enhanced learning platform that responds to digitisation and the future world of work”.
The project, UL@ Work, will receive €16,297,375 in total and is being developed to deliver on the enterprise priority set out in the university’s strategic plan — UL@50.
University president Professor Kerstin Mey said the project “will develop digital, industry 4.0, talent through flexible, innovative and technology-enabled, experiential learning; bringing enterprise expertise into education, and education into the workplace to form a co-designed future learning environment”.
The projects include the use of virtual laboratories in higher education, a new hub to upskill the building sector on green construction, and the establishment of Creative Futures Academy to support digital and screen culture, cinema, literature and broadcasting, art, design, and fashion.
Innovative methods of teaching and delivery will be promoted on these projects, enabling learners will benefit from improved quality and more engaging ways of learning on enterprise-focused courses, providing lifelong learning and upskilling opportunities for all.
Human Capital Initiative Pillar 3, Innovation and Agility is the final pillar to be announced and commands a total budget of €197m over the five-year period, 2020 to 2024.
Among the UL@Work elements are flexible provision of skills via five new masters programmes, two top up degrees, and 10 professional postgraduate diplomas, in emerging technologies to lifelong learners.
“UL@ Work will deliver undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for campus and work-based learners. It will sustain, formalise, and further develop UL’s institutional capability to deliver emerging technical and transversal skills in partnership with enterprise,” said Professor Mey.
“Specifically, UL@ Work will support the development of 19 new programmes and provide 2,325 new student places in areas of identified skills need for enterprise."
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris said: “These projects will develop and change teaching and learning.
"Crucially though it requires us to develop new skills and equip the next generation with the critical importance to the economy and the workplace of the future."
“It is great to see the culmination of this process as it represents hundreds of hours of work by the Higher Education Authority working with the higher education institutions and our international panel,” said Higher Education Authority CEO, Dr Alan Wall.
The Human Capital Initiative Pillar 1 is a Government education fund aimed at reskilling and upskilling students to take up careers where skills are most needed in the Irish economy. HCI Pillar 1 offers full-time conversion programmes to candidates who hold a level 8 qualification or equivalent to upskill for future job prosperity in areas such as ICT, Engineering, Data Analytics, and Technology.
The fund is directed towards new graduates, those returning to education, professionals, and unemployed candidates
