Skillnet funding

Skillnet Ireland, the national agency responsible for the promotion and facilitation of workforce learning, supports over 15,000 companies through 60+ enterprise-led learning networks annually.

Skillnet supports Irish businesses by helping them to identify relevant training requirements and working with them to source the best option to meet their needs. Its ambition is to develop Ireland’s talent base and enable Irish SMEs to reach their full potential through lifelong learning and professional development.

Skillnet fosters an enterprise-led approach to workforce development. It operates under a joint investment model, part-funded by participating businesses in one of our 60+ learning networks. Each network, funded by Skillnet Ireland, is a cluster of companies from the same sector or geographical location. This approach has received international recognition as a model of best practice from the OECD and ILO, amongst others.

Skillnet Ireland is funded from the National Training Fund through the Department of Education and Skills.

Click here to go to learn more about funding via Skillnet.

 

Executive Apprenticeships

The University of Limerick is Ireland's first University to offer a suite of executive apprenticeships from Level 7 Diploma to Level 10 Doctorate. These new executive apprenticeships have been created in collaboration with industry and are aimed at building Ireland's capacity to be world industry leaders through enhancing the skills of its existing workforce. The programmes at UL are designed for people who are already working and wish to gain additional knowledge and experience within their role. As such, all of our participants already have employment contracts that meet or exceed the duration of the apprenticeship. All of the programmes are designed to minimise the employees time away from the workplace using a 70:30 ‘on-the-job’ to ‘off-the-job’ ratio. This is achieved through the use of blended and online programme delivery for maximum benefit. 

We currently offer the following apprenticeships:

  • Principal Engineer Level 10
  • Equipment Systems Engineer Masters Level 9 
  • Lean Sigma Manager Masters Level 9
  • Supply Chain Manager Masters Level 9
  • Supply Chain Specialist Degree Level 8 
  • Supply Chain Associate Diploma Level 7
  • Cybersecurity Practitioner L8 (September 2022)

All apprenticeships are subject to an application and approvals process. 
Fees are highly subsidised for approved applicants and represent 80-90% saving on programmes fees. If you are interested in undertaking one of our executive apprenticeships, please contact us on apprenticeships@ul.ie for further information or to speak to a programme manager. Details on the programmes can be found at www.ul.ie/apprenticeships  

 

Springboard+ Funding

The springboard+ upskilling initiative in higher education offers free courses at certificate, degree and masters level leading to qualifications in areas where there are employment opportunities in the economy.

Springboard+ is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Social Fund as part of the ESF programme for employability, inclusion and learning 2014-2020. The majority of courses are part-time for a maximum of 12 months and are open to all eligible applicants regardless of their employment status. For more information go to https://www.springboardcourses.ie.