Latest News from the CIT Extended Campus
CIT Secures HCI Funding to Meet Priority Skills Needs
09 October, 2020
Cork Institute of Technology and collaborating higher education institutions have secured approx. €30 million under the Government-funded Human Capital Pillar 3 Initiative (HCI).
The funding addresses priority skills needs in cybersecurity, work-based and lifelong learning, new models of engineering education, the health and life science industry sector and investment fund management.
CIT will lead the €8.1 million CYBER-SKILLS project, addressing skills shortages in the cybersecurity sector. Partner institutions include IT Tralee, University of Limerick, Technological University Dublin, University College Dublin and Virginia’s Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, based at the US University, Virginia Tech.
Dr Donna O’Shea, Chair of Cybersecurity at CIT said, “CYBER-SKILLS will create innovative cybersecurity programmes, informed by enterprise needs and relevant research, through meaningful collaborations with national and international partners. It aims to address the major global opportunity that exists currently in the area of cybersecurity skills and training through the adoption of a large scale national response”.
Dr Barry O’Connor, President of CIT said, “As we approach the establishment day of the Munster Technological University on 1st January 2021, the winning of a very significant level of funding under this initiative will provide a major boost to the capacity of CIT and IT Tralee to jointly address the skills needs of the South West region as well as supporting the national effort in this context.”
CIT is also a partner in four other HCI funded initiatives:
RPL project: A national collaboration involving all Institutes of Technology, Universities, and Technological Universities. The project aims to build a consistent and coherent approach to the recognition of prior learning (RPL) across the entire public higher education sector while supporting engagement with enterprise in upskilling and reskilling to develop a dynamic workforce. It is being led by IT Carlow and the Technological Higher Education Association.
iEd Hub project: UCC, CIT and 9 industry partners will develop the iEd Hub to support the development of graduates in the Health & Life Sciences industry sector, strengthening relationships between partners in education, in research and development as well as driving regional and national enterprise development.
Protecting and Strengthening the Investment Funds Industry in Ireland project: Waterford Institute of Technology, Cork Institute of Technology and industry partners will gather existing in-house and employer-based expertise into an Academy for Investment Fund Executive Education and Development (AIFEED) to develop a suite of modules leading to a level 9 masters award with exit and re-entry points along the way.
Rethinking Engineering Education in Ireland (REEdl) project: Led by IT Tralee, this project will develop a project-based learning approach to engineering undergraduate formation, futureproofing graduates with industry-relevant skills for emerging technologies and building on best practice nationally and internationally.
