Policy
Skills
Published on: 6 April 2022
From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
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Published on: 6 April 2022
From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science’s Statement of Strategy sets out the vision for the department over the next three years. At the heart of the department is an objective to ensure everyone achieves their best potential, regardless of their background, age, gender, or address, whether that is through education or the workforce.
The National Skills Strategy , 2016 to 2025 is the framework for skills development.
The National Skills Council and nine Regional Skills fora, created under the National Skills Strategy, encourage engagement and collaboration between government departments and agencies, the education and training system, and enterprise.
There are two entities that help to forecast Ireland's skills needs :
The skills system also covers entities, including the National Training Fund Advisory Group. The group is hosted in this department.
While the department has responsibility for skills policy, this broader skills system informs and drives responsive, flexible forecasting, planning, and provision.
The further education and training sector has undergone transformational reform since 2013. The objective has been to bring cohesion to the sector, bringing together further education and training as a single sector.
Apprenticeship mixes learning in an education and training provider with work-based learning. As an apprentice , you are an employee.
Higher education in Ireland is provided by universities, technological universities, institutes of technology and colleges of education. As well as their core courses, higher education institutions offer upskilling and reskilling programmes through Springboard+ and the Human Capital Initiative , and modular skills courses .
The system continues to roll out tailored responses under the July Stimulus . Efforts are also ongoing to make sure that skills options do not become cluttered, and that there is coherent information about opportunities for the public, and access to them.
To make sure the system continues to evolve and remain flexible, the Economic Recovery Plan includes a commitment to review Ireland’s skills strategies, architecture and approach, including the National Skills Strategy. The OECD will carry out a country review. This started in November 2021. Four themes will be examined as part of the project:
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