Two new programmes providing specialised pathways for dairy professionals are set to be launched by University College Cork (UCC) and Taste4Success Skillnet.
New post-graduate Diploma and MSc qualifications in Dairy Technology and Innovation, through the Dairy Science Centre of Excellence, will be launched tomorrow (Monday, June 19).
The programmes provide pathways for skilled workers in the dairy sector to access life-long, work-integrated professional development opportunities in a flexible format.
Dairy professionals
A stackable qualifications model will allow for the stacking and accumulating of credentials over a number of courses to contribute towards a final qualification.
The specialised pathways are designed to provide multiple entry and exit points for industry-based learners, Taste 4 Success Skillnet network manager, Bridie Corrigan-Matthews said.
“It is a very flexible format for people working in the sector that they can train and upskill at times that can suit them and their employer,” Corrigan-Matthews told Agriland.
The short programmes allow industry-based learners, who would like to enter the dairy sector and might move across from bio, pharma, or med-tech, to bridge a “science gap”, she added.
“One of the main challenges that the dairy sector faces is that we have some other major companies in Ireland – we are a haven for the pharma, the biotech, and the technology sectors.
“We need to be able to attract and upskill and retain quality talent and to keep innovating and developing those skills,” Corrigan-Matthews said.
Science leads us to innovation, and that’s why, she said, “food science and dairy science skills are so important, so integral to the future of our biggest indigenous industry”.
A digital badge, which is a validated micro-credential awarded to earners in an online format, in dairy chemistry will also be available “very shortly”, she added.
UCC
The launch of the two industry-focused programmes by UCC and Taste4Success Skillnet will be attended by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney.
“With a focus on value-add, these programmes are designed to support the dairy sector in developing the skilled professionals required to meet the rapidly evolving challenges and ambitions of sustainable, science-based innovation over the next decade.
“Dairy is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry, employing 85,000 people, contributing €16 billion in economic value across the island,” UCC and Taste4Success Skillnet said.
UCC is the national lead in a €4 million project funded by the Erasmus+ programme to develop a centre of vocational excellence to meet the training and development needs of the dairy sector.