NUI Galway, in collaboration with 19 software industry partners, is offering a limited number of free places on its one-year, Higher Diploma in Software Design & Development Programme – Industry Stream. The conversion programme was recently awarded the accolade of postgraduate programme of the year in information technology by Grad Ireland.
Some 90% of course graduates have secured immediate employment in software development roles, many with some of Ireland’s leading software companies.
Student fees for the course are funded by the Higher Education Authority given the strategic importance of developing skills in this area.
The programme’s goal is to increase the supply of skilled graduates to meet the needs of Ireland’s software industry. 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 course builds on the existing strengths of academic-industry collaboration in the Galway region, and will provide graduates with a foundation in software design and 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.
Industry partners include Avaya, IBM, Cisco, Insight, Storm Technologies, Aspect Software, The Marine Institute, and Schneider Electric.
Dr Enda Howley, Course Director, said: “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.
“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.
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