NUI Galway Launch Free Places on its Award Winning Software Development Programme

NUI Galway, in collaboration with 19 software industry partners, is offering a limited number of free places on its award-winning, innovative Higher Diploma in Software Design and Development Programme – Industry Stream. This programme was recently awarded the accolade of being Postgraduate Programme of the Year in Information Technology by Grad Ireland.

90% of Higher Diploma in Software Design and Development graduates have secured immediate employment in software development roles. Many of the graduates are employed with some of Ireland’s leading software companies. NUI Galway has designed this one-year conversion programme in conjunction with leading IT employers which enables graduates to reskill for employment in the software development area.

Student fees for the course are funded by the Higher Education Authority given the strategic importance of developing skills in this area. Successful applicants will, therefore, pay no fees.

The overall goal of this postgraduate conversion programme is to strategically increase the supply of skilled graduates to meet the needs of Ireland’s high-growth software industry. It will provide graduates with a fast track, focused computing qualification, and presents them with an opportunity to obtain valuable industry work experience. Applicants are paired with an industry partner from the start of the programme and are then trained in key technologies for that employer’s needs, so they are able to maximise the impact of a paid industry internship towards the end of the programme.

The Higher Diploma in Software Design and Development builds on the existing strengths of collaborative academic-industry interaction in the Galway region and will provide graduates with a solid foundation in key areas of software design, a choice of software architecture specialisations in either .NET or Java Enterprise. The final aspect of the course involves a guaranteed three-month paid internship to gain industry experience, and as a result, provides the opportunity to kick-start your career as a software developer.

The industry partners include Avaya, IBM, Cisco, INSIGHT, Storm Technologies, Aspect Software, The Marine Institute, and Schneider Electric.

Dr Enda Howley, Course Director, said: “We are delighted to be offering free places again on this unique programme due to funding from the Higher Education Authority and their Springboard initiative. This is a super opportunity for highly motivated analytical graduates particularly from cognate disciplines such as engineering, maths, business and science. We have had huge success with graduates from these areas due to their natural problem-solving capacity. By investing just one year of their time in further education, and, through placement experience with our Industry partners; they will have an excellent prospect for recruitment as software developers in Ireland’s high-tech ICT sector. This sector is experiencing rapid expansion at the moment, and there is a growing skills shortage for ICT graduate roles that these students are ideally suited to fill.

Dr Howley added:  “The highly intensive programme is designed to begin software development from scratch, but we are particularly keen to receive applications from those who have had some exposure to code and feel that this is something they potentially have a flare for. People with technical or strong numerical backgrounds often perform best in these types of programmes and we strongly encourage applicants who have strong logical reasoning or maths skills. ”

The programme is open to all those who have a level 8 degree or alternatively those with a level 7 degree and has some relevant industry work experience. Those currently completing their studies or who are currently in some form of employment are all eligible to apply.

NUI Galway is now processing applications and those interested can make their application through www.springboardcourses.ie. Deadline for final applications is Friday, 30th June

For further information contact the Programme Director, Dr Enda Howley at ehowley@nuigalway.ie.