On Tuesday 28th May, IT Sligo launched a new suite of Masters level courses designed to directly support innovation in the workplace. These new Master’s level courses are designed to directly support innovation in the workplace, to boost the region’s economy and to build personal development and career opportunities. These courses are a strategic response to the demands from public and private sectors and NGOs to upskill the workforce and to sustain and grow businesses regionally and nationally.
The suite of ten new Master’s programmes will begin in September and are now open for applications. They range in focus from biopharmaceutical processing and data science to leadership, literature and drama.
At the launch President of IT Sligo, Dr Brendan McCormack said this new approach to delivering Master’s level courses will greatly benefit employers and employees;
“The unique part of these new Master’s is it allows employee’s to complete a Master’s through researching or solving a problem in their workplace. The Masters Programmes will focus on practical research projects that will enable an organisation to address particular challenges it faces. Examples of such a challenge can include developing new products or services, breaking into new markets, re-designing how the organisation works, responding to new regulations or other changes in the environment, or understanding how effective your current services are and how they might be further enhanced. The projects can be undertaken either by one of the organisation’s staff in order to both address the issue and in the process gain a Master’s degree, or by an external student who works with that organisation for the project.”
While IT Sligo has already been producing graduates qualified up to Doctoral level, this new initiative represents a concerted drive to nearly treble the number of postgraduate students engaged mainly in research. It represents a critical milestone on the Institutes path to becoming part of a Technological University in 2020.
“Innovation is becoming increasingly central in the workplace across all sectors,” says Vice President for Research, Innovation & Engagement Dr. Chris O’Malley. “Right now the challenge is a wave of computerisation in manufacturing that everyone needs to get on top of as part of Industry 4.0. But the same need for innovation applies to public services such as health and housing, as it does to community development and the arts.” says Dr. O’Malley.
Full details of the Master’s courses can be found at www.itsligo.ie/postgraduate