New Internship Programme at DCU
Tuesday 5 July 2005

David Fitzpatrick (Applied Physics Student, DCU - Intern at HP), Chenzhe Zhang (Engineering Student, DIT- Intern at Intel), Minister Mary Hanafin, T.D., Minister for Education and Science, Ciaran Maguire (Applied Physics Student, DCU-Intern at Intel).

Mary Hanafin, T.D., Minister for Education and Science, launched an internship programme that will offer DCU students in Applied Physics and Electronic Engineering the opportunity to work two days per week in paid employment during their degree programme. This scheme starts from September 2005.

The Minister described the initiative as a major vote of confidence by ICT industry leaders in future growth and jobs supply in the sector. `The initiative is an important signal of the close connectivity between higher education institutes and industry in areas that are key to our economic activities and development. The responsiveness of our higher education sector to the dynamics of labour market demand in the high technology sector sends an important message to potential multi-national investors in Ireland.'

Deirdre Staunton (Engineering, DIT), Chenzhe Zhang (Engineering Student, DIT), Ciaran Maguire (Applied Physics Student, DCU), Kathryn Raleigh (Director, ICT Ireland), Minister Mary Hanafin, Keelin Murphy (HP), Eilish McLoughlin (Physics, DCU), David Fitzpatrick (Applied Physics Student, DCU).

This new internship programme is a joint initiative between ICT Ireland, which represents the high tech and information and communications technology (ICT) sector in IBEC and the Higher Education Authority (HEA). The initiative is designed to create a pool of graduates from a range of hi-tech disciplines for the ICT sector and will involve over DCU 50 students spending two days a week in paid employment in the high tech industry over two years.

`The decline of students choosing ICT courses over the past three years is a major concern to the ICT industry and could cause major problem for companies recruiting in the coming years,' said Kathryn Raleigh, Director, ICT Ireland. `The programme will create a pool of highly trained graduates and will help fast track the students' careers in the dynamic and exciting ICT sector'.

`The new collaboration has obvious potential benefits for the industry partners, in terms of the development of a future supply of highly qualified students, with skills relevant to the sector. There are also benefits for colleges through improved take up of places, higher retention rates and the ability to work closely with industry leaders to improve the relevance and quality of programmes on offer.'

For further information contact
Eilish McLoughlin, School of Physical Sciences, Dublin City University,
Telephone: 01-7005862, Email: eilish.mcloughlin@dcu.ie

Stephen Daniels, School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University,
Telephone: 01-7007639, Email: daniels@eeng.dcu.ie