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Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton TD, and Minister for Training, Skills and Innovation, John Halligan TD, today (Tuesday 25 July, 2017) announced that Higher Education Institutions will deliver 3,800 ICT camp places for second level students during the summer and early autumn as a result of additional funding provided in Budget 2017 to support this initiative.

Making the announcement, Minister Bruton said:

“A goal of the Action Plan for Education is to build stronger bridges between education and the wider community, support learners to make informed career choices and enhance our capacity to meet national and regional skills needs.

“We want to help stimulate student interest and understanding of what computing and ICT is all about. Through ICT camps students get hands-on experience of a variety of activities like programming, coding, app design, digital media, web design, gaming and robotics. This can help children develop the computational and flexible and creative thinking skills that are the basis of computer science and coding.

“In 2016, the HEA provided Information Technology Investment Funding (ITIF) to support 29 computing camps for over 1,245 students.

“Today, I am pleased to announce the results of a call to increase the number of places available on ICT camps. In addition to ITIF annual funding I have ring-fenced €250,000 in Budget 2017 to support an increase in activity this year. This funding is enabling institutions to run extra camps or increase the number of places on camps already planned. Camps typically target transition year students and typically run for a week.

“I’m delighted that this year 18 higher education institutions will be running additional ICT Camps resulting in a projected 3,800 overall places in 2017. That’s more than three times as many as last year.”

Minister Halligan added:

“Through the implementation of the ICT Skills Action Plan 2014-2018 we are seeking to increase the supply of ICT Professionals to meet the continuing increase in demand for people with these skills.

“Giving kids the opportunity to participate in these ICT camps is a great opportunity to give them an insight into higher education and introduce them to the types of things they could be studying in future.”

“I’m delighted to see so many higher education institutions supporting this initiative and engaging with their students of the future.”