UP TO 1,500 jobless workers will be able to retain social welfare payments while studying part time in third-level colleges from September.

Normally students have to pay for part-time courses but the extra places are being created for free to help unemployed people update their skills and get back into the jobs market.

The new places, which will be on undergraduate certificate and degree-level programmes, span the sciences, business, engineering and technology sectors.

Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe said that 13 institutes of technology, four universities and the National College of Ireland were part of the initiative.

It is specifically aimed at upskilling and reskilling workers for jobs in the sectors of the economy considered key to tackling the recession and driving economic growth.

Una Halligan, who chairs the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, said she was impressed by the quality and relevance of the colleges’ proposals. Details of 1,000 part-time post-graduate diplomas and conversion programmes for unemployed workers will be published on the Higher Education Authority website next week.

The courses will cover good manufacturing practice and technology, supply chain management, electronic and renewable energy engineering, environmental and sustainable energy systems, biopharmaceutical and healthcare science, information technology management, business information systems and financial services.

Further information is available here - http://www.hea.ie/en/node/1285

John Walshe