Stephen McComb, Knowledge Transfer Adviser Northern Ireland pictured with Kelly Proctor, Academic Manager at Foyle International, Paul Murray, Director at Foyle International, Feargal Doherty, European Project Co-Ordinator at Foyle International, Dr Fergal Tuffy, Technology Innovation Manager at North West Regional Colleges Business Support Centre, Jennifer Hyndman, Lecturer in Computing at North West Regional College and Lorraine Acheson, InnovateUK Manager for Northern Ireland.
The two-year project funded by InnovateUK and Invest Northern Ireland is aiming to develop a Tracking Internship and Management of Experience System (TIME) which will control the process of recruiting, experience management, tracking and assessment of students when completing placements in an intuitive and student focused manner.
Dr Fergal Tuffy, Technology Innovation Manager at the NWRC’s BSC explained: ‘’Foyle International has a long established track record in Northern Ireland and further afield as a provider of language and experiential learning.
“They were the first to receive the prestigious British Council Accreditation marque for providing quality courses and excellent customer service.
“Paul Murray and the team have attracted thousands of students from all over the world to Derry to improve their English language skills and further their career prospects through various programmes.
‘’We have worked with Foyle International for a number of years through the Higher Level Apprenticeship programme and on a few innovation projects such as the Department for Economy’s InnovateUs and ConnectedNI programmes and the Invest Northern Ireland innovation voucher programme.
“It was through our work with Foyle International and building the relationship that they identified the opportunity to develop a novel IT-based platform that has the potential to cement their market share and allow them to grow their business through an innovative solution that is not currently available on the market.
“KTP is one of Europe’s leading programmes which helps businesses improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK knowledge base. KTP’s are funded by InnovateUK in partnership with Invest Northern Ireland and enable businesses to access highly qualified people to spearhead new projects and experts to take their business forward with innovative solutions to help them business grow and Foyle International is a prime example of this.
‘’At NWRC we have expertise in Software Engineering and have built up a lot of expertise that we will utilise as part of this project which will see the recruitment of a highly skilled degree graduate coming from the area of computing, software engineering or IT who will then work to deliver this exciting research and development project for Foyle International under the supervision of the NWRC.”
Paul Murray Director of Foyle International said: ‘’Foyle International have a long-standing relationship with the college through the summer school and collaboration with international projects.
“In recent years we have engaged with the Business Support Centre to take advantage of the academics skills and this has had a lasting impact on our business.
“We are excited to embed the innovation activity into our business and benefit from a highly skilled graduate.”
Stephen McComb, Knowledge Transfer Adviser Northern Ireland pictured with Paul Murray, Director at Foyle International, Feargal Doherty, European Project Co-Ordinator at Foyle International, Dr Fergal Tuffy, Technology Innovation Manager at North West Regional Colleges Business Support Centre and Lorraine Acheson, InnovateUK Manager for Northern Ireland.
“The assessors, from across the UK, were impressed with the vision and plans Foyle International put forward. We look forward to a graduate seizing this opportunity to develop their skills with this ambitious partnership between the college and Foyle International.’’
NWRC’s BSC assists businesses with training & skills development, technical mentoring, industry research and development. For further information visit http://bsc.nwrc.ac.uk or call 02871276170
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