The development of a country’s talent entails lifelong investment and commitment on the part of both the individual and the State. From pre-primary through to further and higher education and throughout an individual’s career, skills and knowledge need to be continuously enhanced if individuals, employers and countries are to realise their potential.
The role of education, research and innovation, and their relationship with skills development, are key drivers of productivity in the workforce and in businesses. This, through the work of my department, is a key component of the development of a sustainable economy and society.
Strong collaborative links between the further and higher education system and enterprise have been developed and expanded over recent years. The National Skills Council, the Regional Skills Fora, the National Training Fund Advisory Group and the Apprenticeship Council are some of our partnership mechanisms, with the education and training system, and their industry representatives. These relationships allow us to gather insights and data directly from enterprise that feed into high level national policy decisions and allow us to know exactly what enterprise wants us to deliver.
Postgraduate education delivered by higher education institutions is critical to Ireland’s research system. In addition to contributing to knowledge, postgraduate researcher education drives participants to develop their own research skills that can be applied in a range of environments, in academia or industry, at home or abroad.
It is imperative that we continue to develop a pipeline of research talent if Ireland is to realise its ambitions under the new Programme for Government and Project Ireland 2040 and my officials will be exploring this as part of the development of the next national research and innovation strategy currently underway at my department and due to be published later this year. We recognise that Ireland needs to intensify its commitment to building a knowledge-based economy in an increasingly competitive global environment, reinforcing and building on existing competitive strengths. My hope is that the Strategy will not only re-commit to the vision for Ireland to be a Global Innovation Leader but will chart an ambitious but achievable course to get there.
Key measures:
- In 2019, there were 77,815 graduates from the Higher Education sector. Of these, 4,916 were in ICT, 8,116 in Engineering Manufacturing and Construction and 6,472 in Science and Maths.
- In 2018/2019, total enrolments at Research Masters and Ph.D. level was 10,529, the highest amount enrolled since the peak of 10,774 in 2009/10. Of those currently enrolled, approx. 62% are in STEM areas.
- Technology Skills 2022: Ireland’s Third ICT Skills Action Plan is a collaborative effort by Government, the higher and further education and training system and industry to meet Ireland’s high level ICT skills needs. The plan has devised measures that will boost the supply of ICT graduates to meet the ambitious level of demand forecast for the coming years. By 2022, the interventions outlined in this plan aim to deliver up to an additional 5,000 graduates per annum through indigenous supply, with the remainder serviced by inward migration.
- Innovation 2020, set the target of increasing 1st year enrolments in PhD and Research Masters courses by 500 by 2000, this was achieved in the 2018.2019 academic year with an additional 530 enrolments compared to the 2013/2014 baseline . Additionally, overall numbers of PhD and Research Masters graduates reached 2,017 in the class of 2019, the highest amount since the class of 2014.
- The Business Expenditure on R&D Survey 2019-20 found that 31.5% of enterprises have indicated they are quite likely or very likely to recruit at PhD level in the next 5 years. Furthermore, 62% of all enterprises have indicated they are quite likely or very likely to recruit at Masters level.
- In the IMD World Talent Rankings 2020, Ireland ranked 9th out of 63 countries for workforce readiness, which encompasses the degree to which education meets the needs of employers, place of STEM in education, languages, availability of skilled labour as well as other factors related to the labour force.
- In last year’s European Innovation Scoreboard, in which Ireland is ranked the 9th most innovative Member State in the EU, Ireland performed well with its skilled workforce. Ireland came 7th overall and higher than the EU average in the Human Resources dimension, which measures the availability of a high-skilled and educated workforce. Within this, Ireland was 7th for New Doctorate Graduates, 2nd for Population completed tertiary education (aged 25-34) and 9th for Lifelong Learning.
We must continue to evolve and improve in order to meet the rapid changes and challenges of the future world of work, and to shape the economy and society that we want to have. I know that my Department, in collaboration with key stakeholders, will continue to do this work, to help ensure that we meet skills needs on an ongoing basis, and to support economic recovery and economic success.
