Cloud competency centre at National College of Ireland

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The National College of Ireland (NCI) has announced its intentions to develop a Cloud Competency Centre.

The centre will support and strengthen the development of the cloud computing industry in Ireland and abroad, said a launch statement. The college said that it aims to "fulfil the rapidly growing educational needs of the cloud computing and web technology sectors."

The cloud competency centre will be part of NCI’s School of Computing, which delivers programmes from certificate to doctorate level and is already a leading provider of education in the cloud computing area.

"The cloud computing industry has the potential to be a critical contributor to the Irish economy in terms of growth and providing jobs," said Dr Phillip Matthews, president, NCI. "As the industry is still evolving worldwide, there are real opportunities for Ireland to position itself as a global leader in this field. By establishing one of the first significant centres of excellence for teaching and research in cloud computing, National College of Ireland seeks to support Ireland in taking a leadership role in this vital industry."

A new position is being created in the college to lead the Cloud Competency Centre, for which the college is currently recruiting. As well as creating a centre of excellence for advanced learning and research in cloud computing, NCI said that the role holder will have responsibility for establishing the centre and its strategic and operational management.

The Dean of NCI’s School of Computing, Dr Pramod Pathak, said the establishment of the Centre would help to bridge the recognised skills shortage in the web technologies and cloud computing areas. "The establishment of the Centre is fully supported and endorsed by international and local industry at the very highest level. In addition to providing educational programmes and undertaking relevant industry research, the Centre will support many organisations in migrating to a cloud based platform and provide business incubation opportunities as well as an established route to commercialisation," said Dr Pathak.

The centre has been developed in collaboration with a high level advisory board, which consists of industry representatives from companies including Microsoft, IBM, Fujitsu and Google. Many indigenous Irish ICT organisations, across various sectors of the business and technology communities, are also represented on the advisory board. These include Staff Balance, Tradefacilitate, DANU Technologies and Orca Resources.

"The cloud computing industry," said Regina Moran, CEO, Fujitsu Ireland and Chair of ICT Ireland, "is facing significant demand for specific ICT skills and we wholeheartedly welcome the establishment of the NCI Cloud Competency Centre. With a balance of real-world and academic subject matter, coupled with a problem based learning approach, we believe the Centre will have a significantly positive impact on the quality and quantity of Ireland’s graduates, which will increase our global competitiveness in this critical field."

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