€8 million funding for Apprenticeship Programmes in Institutes of Technology.
I have welcomed the announcement that €8 million is being invested in apprenticeship programmes in the Institutes of Technology.
‘In particular I welcome the investment in Electrical apprenticeships in Galway Mayo Institute of Technology’
‘Apprenticeships are important in this country in order to be able to provide the skilled workforce required to meet the skill shortage in our country. Apprenticeship is a programme of structured education and training which formally combines and alternates learning in the workplace with learning in an education and training centre. Today’s announcement is in line with the program for Government which contains a commitment to enrol 31,000 people on apprenticeship programmes in the period 2016-2020’.
Today’s announcement will support an estimated 2,300 additional apprentices that will commence in one of the programmes in 2018. The funding announced today will enable the Institutes of Technology to purchase equipment and carry out enabling works for the delivery of new syllabi in 13 existing apprenticeship trades from 2018, in the following areas: Mechanical Automation and Maintenance Fitting, Industrial Installation, Sheet Metalwork, Aircraft maintenance, Vehicle Body Repairs, Wood Manufacturing and Fitting, Brickwork, Painting and Decorating, Agricultural Mechanisation, Toolmaking, Electronic Security Systems, Electrical Instrumentation, and Electrical.