EMPLOYMENT Minister Stephen Farry has commended the University of Ulster for its ongoing commitment to boosting skills and employment opportunities for its students and graduates.
Minister Farry was speaking at the annual Ulster Placement Employer of the Year Awards ceremony.
Annually, over 2,000 University of Ulster students undertake a placement, with approximately 1,200 students completing a year-long paid placement with businesses across Northern Ireland and internationally.
Minister Farry said: “I congratulate the award winners and commend employers and the University of Ulster in the proactive steps they are taking to sup-port our young people.”
‘Graduate employability is a key theme of my department’s Higher Education Strategy and one of its key outcomes is to ensure that, by 2020, all higher education students will have the opportunity to avail of a work placement, whilst undertaking their degree. I believe that the benefits to employers will be enormous. They can be confident that graduates will be equipped with the abilities, knowledge and skills to help grow their business and support our local economy.”
University of Ulster Vice-Chancellor, Professor Richard Barnett, said: ‘Ulster is recognised locally and nationally for high quality teaching and skilled, talented graduates.
“The development and promotion of work based and placement learning at Ulster underpins our teaching and learning strategy, providing our students with opportunities to develop industry relevant skills in a wide variety of different settings in the UK and internationally.”
Employers from the public and private sectors, university students and staff attended the awards ceremony, now in its sixth year An independent panel assessed the submissions and short-listed 19 nominees.
Also at the UU, two trainee solicitors have just returned from an international event in Puerto Rico, where they demonstrated to a global audience of legal experts, their ability to deal effectively with a range of legal, ethical and client care issues.
Patricia Sweeney-Macbride and Ruairi Muldoon were the only participants from Northern Ire-land shortlisted to take part Both are currently working in law firms in Belfast and Londonderry.