Dublin Aviation Institute takes flight to meet industry skills shortfall
Dublin Aviation Institute takes flight to meet industry needs
It’s a good time to be in the education business when the industry sector you support is experiencing a skills shortage while still growing strongly; that’s the perfect storm facing the newly created Dublin Aviation Institute (DAI). The airline sector is experiencing an internationally recognised ‘retirement cliff’, creating a demand for well-educated, industry-ready personnel to cope with a rapidly expanding global commercial aviation sector.
Launched in September 2014, a joint initiative from DCU and Dublin Airport Authority International, the DAI aims to break the mould of traditional aviation education, says PJ Byrne, Associate Professor in Management in DCU Business School and a founding member of the institute. This initiative builds on the undergraduate programme in Aviation Management, which was first launched in 2010. The first graduates of this programme graduated in November 2014.
The Institute’s pitch to students is a combination of academic excellence married to on-the-ground training in a live airport environment. The DAI emphasises its connections to industry, both via its partner the Dublin Airport Authority, as well as DCU’s relationships with organisations such as Aer Lingus, Stobart Air and the US-based group ISTAT, the International Society of Aircraft Transport Trading.
Its undergraduate aviation management programme is one of only a handful of such courses in the aviation world, Byrne adds. “Historically, aviation has been driven from a technical perspective. We are taking a different approach through our focus on the professionalisation of the management of aviation. From a DCU perspective, that’s what is particularly innovative about this programme and the institute itself in the European market.”
Though based in Dublin, the DAI will serve both Irish and international students, with a particular focus on aviation growth markets in regions such as Asia. “It’s an important dimension of what the institute is. It’s about moving forward growth economies from an aviation perspective,” Byrne explains.
He believes the DAI is well positioned to capitalise on the significant growth currently happening in aviation worldwide. “There is a retirement cliff approaching. A lot of people that have come through the system are now leaving, based on their age profile, at the same time as growth is happening in the market, which creates a vacuum in terms of sufficient skilled aviation professionals. So there is a case of the DAI getting to market early,” he says.
The new facility will offer another suite of new courses from September 2015, comprising a comprehensive suite of programmes and courses across the entire spectrum of aviation, from professional standards and compliance training based on international standards, to fully accredited degree programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.