Workers ‘must better their abilities’

IRISH workers need to raise their skill levels, while our universities must deliver more high-quality graduates with knowledge that is relevant to enterprise, the government think-tank on science and technology policy said yesterday.

The Forfas-sponsored Expert Group on Future Skills Needs said its review of progress in meeting Ireland’s skills requirements had found that good progress had been made, but that future planning needed to take account of a shift from investment-led growth to innovation.

Forfas, which advises the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said it would look to raise skill levels in the workforce and give employees skills that were transferrable to other jobs rather than company-specific.

Expert group chairperson Anne Heraty said Forfas would actively engage with third-level educational institutions to help make further progress on enhancing the country’s skill base.

“I believe that, increasingly, these bodies will need to identify both regional and national business needs and move to address any gaps by establishing new courses or updating existing ones,” said Ms Heraty.

But Ms Heraty also warned the delay in implementing previous recommendations to improve workplace skills was a “major impediment” to improving skill levels.

“Issues such as the benchmarking and improvement of our current low literacy and numeracy levels represent essential underpinning for ensuring the longer-term availability of a highly-skilled workforce,” she said.

Forfas also wanted greater co-operation between industry and the education sector to make sure that third-level courses were relevant and geared up students for the workplace. “At third level, vigilance in monitoring the continuing relevance of curriculum content and education modules for key disciplines is absolutely vital,” said Ms Heraty.

Forfas said there had been “excellent” progress in increasing places at third level and on training courses, as well as promoting science, technology and engineering as attractive careers for students.