The employee training and development landscape has changed significantly over the last few years.

There is a renewed focus on apprenticeship programmes as a way to start a career; or help someone change direction/develop new skills through the Generation Apprenticeship initiative. Ireland ranks highly in the level of university educated population, but we don’t fair so well when you assess our life-long learning performance.

These apprenticeship services, as well as the long running Skillnet and Springboard programmes provide a platform for those looking to upskill and/or reskill.

One area where the upskilling requirement is clearly evident is in Digital Transformation. Digital Transformation is the integration of digital technologies into all areas of the working environment to create fundamental changes in how everything operates. 

Digital transformation education is by its very nature multidisciplinary, with the need for both general data skills, as well as application specific and transversal skills.

Upskilling in digital transformation comes with many challenges, for the employer as well as the employee and one of these challenges is the availability of part-time training opportunities. Complementary to the apprenticeship programmes are the new life-long learning opportunities being developed and offered with support from the HEA through HCI Pillar 3 funding.

The Advance Centre was started in 2021 under this funding call to promote part-time flexible learning in the area of Digital Transformation. Alongside other ‘Earn & Learn’ opportunities, learners can take specific and targeted part-time learning courses through micro-credentials – “Micro-credentials are bite-sized, accredited courses designed to fit seamlessly into your busy life” (www.microcreds.ie).

One of the Digital Transformation themes in the Advance Centre is Cyber Security. The ability to take short-form courses or micro-credentials has opened the course up to a wider range of learners. Only 25% of recent micro-credential applicants were recent graduates.

As noted above, Digital Transformation skills are required across all sectors, with only 35% of applicants were coming directly from the ICT sector. This ability to access accredited content typically only available within a master’s programme is transformative.

Accredited and credit bearing have a specific meaning in the context of the learning undertaken. Accredited means the course is audited and assessed to deliver the learning requirements associated with a university course and the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ).

The credit-bearing element means that after completing the course, you can use those credits towards a future award such as a Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, or a Masters. This is how some micro-credentials have ‘stackability’, and this gives the employee an opportunity to build their skills and attain an accredited award in a flexible, part-time way.

There has never been a better time to return to education as the offerings by the Advance Centre, and other HCI Pillar 3 projects, are specifically aligned to the changing and evolving needs of business and industry across many sectors.

Advance Centre’s flexible study options allow learners to upskill in an agile and cost-effective way, especially since the introduction of the HCI Pillar 3 learner fee subsidy, which allows learners to avail of an up to 80% discount on course fees. Further details can be found at:  www.microcreds.ie   and  www.advancecentre.ie/learnerfeesubsidy.