Academy Encourages Entrepreneurs Of The Future
STUDENTS are seeing their business ideas become a reality thanks to an enterprise programme funded by Belfast City Council. Over 20 students took part in the Belfast Enterprise Academy (BEA), designed for degree students living in the city who want to become entrepreneurs. As part of the academy, they met established entrepreneurs and received one-to-one...
Union Welcomes Rise In FE Student Numbers
NORTHERN Ireland’s biggest locally-based teaching union has welcomed the rise in the numbers of students opting for further education (FE) courses. Avril Hall Callaghan, general secretary of the Ulster Teachers’ Union, was speaking following the release of the latest further and higher education statistics which show an increase of 2% in those choosing the FE...
Kainos On The Up
DIGITAL solutions company Kainos has gained another high ranking in the 2014 Digital Leaders 100, a prestigious list of digital innovators in the public sector. Digital Leaders, a scheme run by the Digital Leaders programme in conjunction with Digital by Default News, has awarded Kainos second place in this year’s category – Kainos came third...
Skills Boosted
BUSINESSES who gained a qualification in the InnovateUs Employer Support Programme (ESP) have been praised by Employment and Learning Minister Stephen Farry. The achievements of local businesses on the skills programme, which is funded by the Department for Employment and Learning, has been recognised at an event on the South Eastern Regional College Lisburn campus...
The Right Recipe
NORTH West Regional College students Grainne Kerr and James Ryan achieved outstanding success on the College’s Level 1VRQ Professional Chefs Diploma course this year after achieving full distinction in both the Craft and Assignment aspects of the programme. Their success was also matched by Oliver Molloy who attained full distinction in the Level 3VRQ Professional...
SME’s Plug in to New Skills Hub Network
A NEW skills initiative in Northern Ireland — a first for the UK — will help local companies maximise their training and development opportunities, according to industry leaders. The objective of a Skills Hub is to enable employers to facilitate the secondment of highly skilled members of staff to other local organisations and SMEs. Speaking...
Enhancing Our Engineering Talent
With increased focus on research and development as well as the use of pioneering technologies to drive forward growth in the engineering sector, the challenge going forward will be to ensure that we attract the right people and skills to meet our growing needs, says Darren McVicker, Managing Consultant, Vickerstock Engineering Recruitment. Manufacturing and engineering...
Enterprise Scheme Boosts Marketing Skills Of Start-up Companies
BUDDING entrepreneurs from across Belfast are seeing their business ideas flourish after taking part in an enterprise programme funded by the City Council. They completed the Market Start-Up Programme, which explored market trading as a business model and gave new-start businesses within the food and craft industries in Belfast the chance to test trade products...
Entrepreneurs To Benefit From Business Bootcamp
AN internationally recognised entrepreneurial boot camp comes to Belfast this month — its first ever visit to Ireland. Thanks to Lean Startup Machine, aspiring entrepreneurs will now have a new avenue to test their ideas and products with customers. The event received more than 300 online votes in just eight days in order to ‘unlock’...
Going Green
GREEN teens from SERC were crowned winners at ECO-UNESCO’s 15th annual Young Environmentalist Showcase and Awards Ceremony held in the Round Room of the Mansion House recently. The annual awards programme run by ECO-UNESCO, Ireland’s environmental education and youth organisation, recognises and rewards young people that carry out local environmental action projects. The winning project...