Springboard+ and HCI Pillar 1 initiatives explained…
Springboard+ and the Human Capital Initiative (HCI) Pillar 1 are Government initiatives that aim to reskill or upskill people in areas where job opportunities are growing in Ireland by providing free or heavily subsidised places at certificate, degree and masters level in Ireland. They are open for application to the employed, unemployed, self employed and returners to education if you meet the eligibility criteria for the course.
There are 11,259 places are available across 321 courses under Springboard+ 2021-22. These include courses in Accounting, Software Design, Cybersecurity, Computing, Leadership, Animation, Business, Human Resource Management, Digital Media Design, Culinary Arts, Food Science, Health Project Management, Electric Vehicle Technology, Finance, Mental Health Recovery, Biomedical Engineering, Construction Site Management and many more.
There are 1,869 places are available across 79 courses funded under the Human Capital Initiative Pillar 1 2021-22. The HCI Pillar 1 offers incentivised places for graduates to reskill in areas of skills shortage and emerging technologies. These courses include Engineering Management, Building Surveying, Agri- Analytics, Wind Energy, Data Analytics, Environmental Science and many more. To check out the full list of courses on offer, go to: https://springboardcourses.ie/search.
To be eligible for these courses, you will need to be living fulltime in the Republic of Ireland, have your own, valid PPS Number, meet the nationality/visa requirement, and have lived in either the EU, the EEA, the UK or Switzerland for at least 3 out of the last 5 years. In addition to the above, a level 8 degree is required if applying for the HCI Pillar 1 courses. As places on these courses are limited, applicants who are on a qualifying Social Welfare payment will always take priority over others.
The deadlines for many of these courses is August/ September with the courses beginning in October and they do vary. Some deadlines have already passed but many are still open for application. All the information on deadlines and the application procedure is on the Springboard website; www.springboardcourses.ie. For advice and guidance on a course and making an application, freephone 1800 303523.
With free and 90% subsidised courses available, this is the perfect opportunity to upskill, retrain and develop!