Springboard+ courses are one of Ireland’s most important education initiatives for unemployed people.
Springboard+ offers 5,855 free places on 181 courses to help unemployed people return to education and find highly paid jobs. The courses are at certificate, degree and master’s levels. These are all in areas where there are plenty of jobs. However, Springboard+ also offers opportunities for recent graduates and employed people. Read on…
ICT Skills Conversion courses
Over 50 of the Springboard+ courses on offer are free, full-time or part-time conversion courses in the area of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). These conversion courses are open to qualified applicants, regardless of employment status.
Graduates, including recent ones, can apply for the one-year full-time ICT Skills Conversion course. Applicants need an honours degree in a cognate discipline. A cognate discipline is a course that is in a different, but related field.
Courses in bio-pharma and medical devices
The expanded Springboard+ programme makes courses available homemakers. In addition, people who are already working will be able to take Springboard+ courses leading to jobs in the bio-pharma and medical devices sector.
Haven’t got a degree in a cognate discipline?
All is not lost! A number of colleges accept students to Springboard+ ICT courses as long as they have a degree, irrespective of the discipline.
For example, Griffith College offers a range of Springboard+ ICT conversion courses. These courses are open to everyone. This includes people in full-time employment, recent graduates or anyone who wants to upskill in ICT. However, you must have a Level 8 qualification.
Dublin Business School (DBS) has a range of ICT Skills Conversion programmes that are available regardless of employment status. These are full and part-time Level 8 conversion awards for Higher Diploma in Science in Computing. These are in the specialist streams of Software Development, Web & Cloud Technologies, IT Infrastructure & Networking and a Higher Diploma in Science in Data Analytics.
Qualifications
The NFQ recognises all Springboard+ courses. The courses lead to qualifications at Level 6, Level 7, Level 8 or Level 9 on the framework. In other words, the qualifications range from higher certificate to master’s degree levels.
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