Meeting the Skills Needs of the Economy
We have made great strides in growing our capability in science and technology in the past decade.
Government initiatives have built the foundations of a world-class base in research and innovation and national policy has now pinpointed a number of key areas as being essential to national development into the future.
The Government’s research strategy, the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation (SSTI) notes that ‘success in shaping our knowledge and innovation economy will be strongly dependent on growing the skills of our population and ensuring that levels of scientific and mathematical literacy increase’ and has a stated aims of stimulating interest, awareness and participation in the sciences by young people.
The recent FÁS/ESRI manpower study predicted a strong demand for science and engineering professionals, technicians and computing/software into the future in the economy. This highlights the need for concerted efforts to attract students into science and technology within the Irish education and training system.
As the economy continues to develop into a knowledge society, there are other sectors that have significant growth potential and we need to position out education sector to meet the needs of these sectors. One example is the services sector.
There is an important opportunity for Ireland to exploit more fully the services areas as a source of future economic growth. The Forfas Services Innovation in Ireland report details the importance of the services sector to Ireland already and its expected growing importance into the future. The ESRI, in its mid-term review, noted that 60% of Irish economic activity is now in the services areas and that this is likely to grow.
Given the increasing cost pressures faced in more traditional forms of manufacturing, the HEA believes that the services sector will increasingly offer valuable opportunities where Ireland is well placed to compete. We also believe that higher education in particular has an important contribution to make in the development of the skill sets required by the services sector both now and into the future.
See also the National Strategy for Higher Education.
Towards a National Skills Strategy 1.27 MB Publish Date: