2018 Irish Enterprise Award

16 EU BUSINESS NEWS / 2018 Irish Enterprise Awards , Best Technology Training Institution 2018 - West Ireland Institute of Technology Sligo (IT Sligo) offers an open learning space for those looking to learn a range of skills. President Dr BrendanMcCormack discusses the organisation’s work and how it ensures excellence for each and every one of its valued students. Since its foundation in 1970, IT Sligo has provided a young and dynamic regional population with high-quality third level education in the North West of Ireland. The Institute has in excess of 6000 students, with a quarter of those accessing their learning online, and that number is growing. Today IT Sligo has the highest percentage of online students of any higher education institution in Ireland and offers the largest and most expansive range of programmes. Brendan discusses the organisation’s success so far and how it is constantly striving to improve and adapt to continue meeting the needs of today’s learners. “Accessibility and flexibility are the key principles that underpin everything that we do at the Institute of Technology, Sligo (IT Sligo), and so the Technology Award is a particular source of pride to us. The award has been warmly welcomed by staff and students at the Institute, and particularly by all involved with our Centre for Online Learning. The award is recognition of the hard work we have been doing over the last 15 years. “That work has focussed on a single strategic objective: growing IT Sligo to be the largest provider of online distance learning in Ireland. In our new strategic plan which covers 2017 to 2022, IT Sligo sets out its path as follows: Advancing the economic, social and environmental sustainability through education, innovation, and engagement, producing graduates who are innovative, confident and capable of leading the development of the region and beyond. “Fundamentally, growth is the key deliverable for IT Sligo as we develop the Institute over the next five years, towards 2022. A key target for the Institute is to almost double our enrolments from the current IEA18008 level of 6,000 to a figure of 10,000. It is a bold target but, together, we can achieve this important milestone.” Accessibility is instrumental to achieving this; IT Sligo’s fully-online programmes can be studied from anywhere in the world without any need for college attendance. In