Evaluation and Learning 69 4. 7 Trade Credit and Prompt Payments 69 5. Increasing Activation of the Unemployed 73 6. Growing Irish Enterprise and Foreign
A medium term strategy for early years and school age care to support increased parental participation in the labour force;
2015 ACTION PLAN FOR JOBS 11 National Talent Drive This reform will focus on strengthening employability of learners
We will increase higher education ICT graduates by 60 per cent between 2015 and 2018, commensurate with resourcing, meeting 74 per cent of demand through domestic supply in 2018.
We will provide technology summer camps and 1, 250 extra ICT places for students in 2015.
We will target 13,800 annual science, technology, engineering and maths graduates by 2018 (up from 10
and increase the numbers of graduates on the International Growth programme. We will sustain a focus on monitoring
and linkages are growing strongly. 4 Cornell University, INSEAD, and WIPO (2014: The Global Innovation Index 2014:
Introduce a new Graduate Development Programme with a target of 10 graduates into the Food SME sector;
with the target set for 2018 of having 74 per cent of the supply needs of the sector being met through increased output from our higher education sector.
and need for extra provision in a number of areas that will be the focus of engagement between the HEA and higher education institutes.
Implementing a national Foreign languages Education Strategy is a priority for the Department of education and Skills, as are science and maths,
Target 13,800 annual science, technology, engineering and maths graduates by 2018 (up from 10,200 in 2011;
Target of 4, 500 Erasmus students per annum by 2020(+50 per cent; EU lifelong learning target of 2020 target of 15 per cent;
and New calls for apprenticeships and traineeships in 2015. Current Performance: Activation of the Unemployed At the macro level, Ireland's performance in terms of activation is strong
and work. 60 per cent increase in higher education ICT graduates, meeting 74 per cent of demand through domestic supply in 2018.
Provide 1, 250 extra ICT places for students in 2015. Target 13,800 annual science, technology, engineering and maths graduates by 2018 (up from 10,200 in 2011.
Ireland's competitive advantage in international markets, as well as the competitiveness of our regions, will increasingly be driven by the availability of world class skills at all levels.
enhanced employability of learners, and strong engagement between the education and training system and employers.
That approach is having an impact with Ireland ranked first in the world for the availability of skills and fourth for the quality of its education system.
including over 211,000 students enrolled in third-level courses across Ireland's universities and institutes of technology.
in the six years to 2014, the higher education system delivered 25,000 extra places. There is strong alignment of mainstream education
or 29 per cent of higher education students are enrolled in Science and Engineering courses and over 50,000 higher education students are enrolled in Social sciences,
including Business and Law, equating to 25 per cent of total student enrolments. The system has responded also to emerging skills needs in high-growth sectors,
28 including achieving 50 per cent increase in graduate output from high-level ICT programmes between 2008 and 2013.
and a new Foreign languages in Education Strategy. The development of a new National Skills Strategy will provide a crucial framework for understanding
including the development of a strong network of engaged Higher education institutions and 2015 ACTION PLAN FOR JOBS 29 further education providers
industry and the education system-was published in March 2014, and builds on the first ICT Action Plan produced in 2012.
The target is that by 2018,74 per cent of supply will come from The irish education system.
Since 2008, there has been a 50 per cent increase in annual graduate output on ICT programmes from the higher education system.
We will increase higher education ICT graduates by 60 per cent between 2015 and 2018 commensurate with resourcing.
We will also target 13,800 annual science, technology, engineering and maths graduates by 2018 (up from 10
There are strong employment rates for graduates of these programmes (67 per cent of graduates in employment within 6 months),
The Higher education Authority is examining issues related to retention on ICT courses, and the National Forum for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in higher education is funding a research project in this area. 30 A key goal is to enhance awareness of ICT careers to prospective students.
Significant progress has been made in raising STEM participation in schools notably a 74 per cent increase in higher level maths take-up in Leaving certificate since 2011.
The Department of education and Skills and the Higher education Authority are co-funding a promotional campaign centred on a new website www. ictworks. ie
which will highlight job opportunities and available ICT programmes throughout Ireland to students and their families in advance of the 2015 CAO deadline.
The HEA will also support the use of third level facilities out of term to promote greater awareness and interest in technology
Strengthen the employability of learners and enhancing engagement between the education and training system and employers to deliver high quality skills;
Develop and implement the new Foreign languages in Education Strategy; Publish regional labour market profiles to better reconcile available skills with employers'needs;
DES) 2 Implement Cycle 2 of the Strategic Dialogue process for 2015 under the higher education performance framework 2014-2016, including monitoring of performance metrics for skills including those identified by the EGFSN
and achieve a step change in enterprise engagement in higher education institutions. HEA) 3 Through strengthened collaboration between Government, the education system and industry and as part of the goal of making Ireland the most attractive location in the world for ICT skills and ability, implement the key actions from the ICT
Skills Action Plan 2014-2018. HEA, HEIS, Employers) 4 Incentivise 1, 250 additional places in 2015 on Level 8 ICT programmes.
DES, HEA, HEIS) 5 Devise and implement a programme around a single website portal, through industry and agencies working together,
to attract international technical talent. DJEI, EI/IDA) 6 Enhance collaboration and engagement between enterprise and higher education providers to roll out Level 8 ICT Conversion programmes as part of the Springboard 2015 programme.
HEIS, HEA, Employers) 7 Enhance industry input to programme content, provision of work placements and promotion of ICT programmes as part of the implementation of Skillnets ICT Conversion Programmes.
Skillnets) 8 Step up collaboration between government, industry and education through Smart Futures to raise awareness of STEM career opportunities for post-primary students, in line with the agreed 2014-16 strategy.
SFI) 9 Provide support to institutions in delivering Summer Computing Camps to encourage secondlevel students to consider ICT careers.
Higher education institutions to continue to support Coder Dojo in provision of space, administrative supports and mentoring.
The success criteria for this action include supporting a specified number of annual summer camps at a range of higher education institutions and offering ICT-related courses.
HEA) 32 10 Maintain the level of awards under the IRC Employment Based Programme to provide opportunities for MSC
and Phd students to undertake a‘coeducational'experience in research and skills development while employed
Irish Research Council) 11 Continue to implement the pilot phase of the Post Graduate programme of Professional Practice to provide graduates with opportunities to develop cross disciplinary skills in STEM based sectors with enhanced engagement
by employers to progress graduates to employment. HEA, HEIS, Employers) 12 Increase the pool of researchers strongly positioned to take up employment in industry in Ireland.
SFI) 13 Roll out the 2015 call for proposals for Springboard courses, with a particular focus on priority areas identified by EGFSN including ICT;
HEIS, HEA, Employers) 14 Publish an integrated 2015 Further Education and Training (FET) Services Plan that includes provision to meet the FET skills needs identified in various published EGFSN reports and sectoral studies.
SOLAS, ETBS, HEIS) 16 Develop new Apprenticeships in response to proposals from key sectors of the economy.
and commence implementation of a new Foreign languages in Education Strategy. DES) 21 Publish the national employer survey of higher and further education outcomes.
Únag) 47 ETBS and higher education institutions to target provision to meet local and regional employer needs,
SOLAS, ETBS HEIS) 38 Support for Local and Rural Development 48 Each Local authority will make an integrated Plan, for the promotion of economic development and local and community development in its area.
Major HEI/Industry research partnerships using, e g.,, SFI's Partnership and Spokes schemes programmes; International collaborative research applications through Horizon 2020 and US Ireland schemes;
Recruitment of leading energy researchers to Irish HEIS, using, e g.,, SFI's Research Professorship scheme;
Placement of HEI researchers in relevant energy industries using e g. SFI Industrial Fellowship scheme; and Development of at least one large bid in the Energy field to Horizon 2020 e g. for infrastructure/test bed/demonstrator that would be used nationally and internationally.
SFI, HEIS, EI, IDA, SEAI) 2015 ACTION PLAN FOR JOBS 43 58 Accelerate commercialisation of research and technologies through greater linkages with enterprise and entrepreneurs.
Maintain a strong focus on policy impact, evaluation and learning; and Develop measures to ensure prompt payments
Maintaining an ongoing dialogue with the SME sector in this way can also encourage two-way learning,
SME State Bodies Group) 4. 6 Policy Impact, Evaluation and Learning In seeking to improve policy effectiveness the SME State Bodies Group will maintain its strong focus on policy impact
, evaluation and learning. In part this will involve exploring how best to leverage the research capabilities within the public system through closer collaboration on specific projects with the Strategic Policy Division (DJEI) and the Economics and Tax Divisions in the Department of Finance,
and implementing initiatives to support the financing of growth in the SME sector. 2015 Actions Policy Impact, Evaluation and Learning 122 Host a policy conference on Financing the Growth Potential of SMES.
The development of a Prompt Payment Code of conduct (PPC) portal is another important step in addressing the culture of late payments in Ireland.
and youth employability initiatives, including skills development and experiential learning opportunities for young people and the provision of valuable volunteer opportunities.
DCYA) 132 Progress work on implementing the EU Recommendation on Recognition of Non-formal and Informal Learning in consultation with relevant Government departments and other stakeholders.
DCYA) 134 Continue to promote mobility and learning opportunities in the youth work sector and the take-up of EU funding mechanisms available such as the new Erasmus+Programme.
i Shortly digital course Facility Here's College comple After E previo lecture course confid enoug About About Mome projec give jo job op health http://Momeh O'brien & job after com
anned for a en d a ve idn't his hs udy se d the in ges ects are 2015 ACTION PLAN FOR JOBS 77 6. Growing Irish Enterprise and Foreign
EI/LEOS) 182 Student Enterprise Award: Building on the successful 3rd Level Student Enterprise Award Programme target a greater number of student participants (Target 500)
and enhance the quality of the applications contributing to a greater Entrepreneurial spirit in this student cohort.
EI) 183 Support entrepreneurship by training more scientists in SFI supported research teams to launch their own businesses and supporting translation of research to commercial opportunities.
SFI) 185 Map relevant entrepreneurship activities in higher education institutions as part of the overall strategy for higher education engagement with enterprise and embed entrepreneurship support within the HEI System Performance Framework.
DES, HEA) 2015 ACTION PLAN FOR JOBS 87 186 Develop an enterprise engagement strategy for higher education to include entrepreneurial education as an important part of the national framework for enterprise engagement.
HEA) 187 Set out performance indicators and measures to benchmark entrepreneurial activity in Irish higher education. DES, HEA) 188 Work with the Department of Social Protection to promote the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance,
A key event of the week will be‘The Entrepreneur in Your Community'visits by role models to classrooms across the country.
To create culture change by providing the opportunity for students to learn by doing by participating in relevant events and meeting international entrepreneurs;
HSA) 231 Extend the number of HSA health and safety e-learning modules and increase user numbers, providing more cost effective solutions to the training of employees, managers and students.
which includes the delivery of an additional 16,000 permanent school places for primary students and 3, 000 permanent school places for second level students.
The investment will also support the provision of enhanced or replacement facilities for 2, 000 primary school students and 4,
000 second level students and the advancement of a range of projects in the higher education sector, including the DIT Grangegorman project.
Hospital Holles St to the St vincent's University Hospital campus, and the primary care infrastructure programme and a considerable number of smaller health care infrastructure projects across the country.
EI) 249 Complete the pilot Platform 4 Growth online learning management development programme involving 100 companies
EI) 254 Embed graduates in international markets for Enterprise Ireland clients to help them to internationalise
and grow their business in new or existing markets through the Graduates 4 International Growth Programme (G4ig).(
and graduates increasingly cite a company's CSR policy as a factor in determining their employer of choice.
under stu University Ho nnovation Hu lation of Linc the Respirat the engagem e patient car lications for visitation for ucation;
D/Health) 293 Publication and enactment of Technological University Bill. DES) 294 Use the standardisation system intelligently to expedite the commercialisation of new technology
EI) 2015 ACTION PLAN FOR JOBS 117 296 Enterprise Ireland to introduce a new Graduate Development Programme with a target of 10 graduates into the Food SME sector to improve company
In addition to this, extra funding was provided in Budget 2015 to allow for the recruitment of 1, 700 new teachers and special needs assistants for the classroom,
HEA) 373 The Post Graduate programme of Professional Practice programme, currently in pilot phase, will be evaluated. HEA) 374 Examine the recommendation included in the Review of the Environmental protection agency (EPA) regarding the introduction of a partial licence review mechanism.
of which will be FDI projects Introduce a new Graduate Development Programme with a target of 10 graduates into the Food SME sector Construct new social housing units Intake
Current Performance 2015 Targets Relevant APJ Sections 3. 1 Proportion of students taking STEM related disciplines 23%26%Provide places under the second iteration
250 extra places p. a. to achieve target to meet 78%of demand with domestic supply by 2018 Target 13,800 annual science, technology, engineering and maths graduates by 2018
10,200 in 2011) Target for 30%of students to take 2. 1-National Talent Drive 3. 2 Domestic supply meeting demand for highend ICT skills 42%of demand in 2012
57%of demand in 2014 3. 3 Students taking higherlevel maths 8, 235 in 2012 14
326 in 2014(+74%),accounting for 27.8%of total 3. 4 Students on Erasmus to boost language, tech and business skills 2, 511 in 2010/11 3, 000
and lifelong learning 7. 9%of adults engaged 8. 2%of adults engaged 3. 7 In-company investment in training and education €132 million €149 million 146 3
Target of 4, 500 Erasmus students per annum by 2020(+50%)EU lifelong learning target of 2020 target of 15%EI and IDA programmes for training and upskilling New
Gross domestic product GNP Gross national product H2020 Horizon 2020 HAP Housing Assistance Payment HEA Higher education Authority HEI Higher education institutions HOOW Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth HRB Health
ESDN Office at the Institute for Managing Sustainability Vienna University of Economics and Business Welthandelsplatz 1, Building D1, A-1020 Vienna, Austria E:
This is, therefore, an active, messy, highly decentralized learning process, but highly necessary if social innovations are to be discovered practically
-How to support people in lifelong learning to ensure adequate livelihoods in a changing world?
whether it is appropriate to bring together new learning experiences and networks for public sector leaders at European level.
The Transition concept emerged from the work of permaculture11 designer Rob Hopkins with his students of Kinsale Further Education College.
Science Communication Unit, University of the West of England, Bristol. Report produced for the European commission DG Environment, February 2014.
The example we are showcasing here is the famous experience of the Grameen Bank started by university professor Muhammad Yunus in 1976,
After returning from his graduate studies in the US to be a university professor in Bangladesh
Science Communication Unit, University of the West of England, Bristol. Report produced for the European commission DG Environment, February 2014.
websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of OECD as source and copyright owner is given.
Laurens Cherchye and Tom Van Puyenbroeck from the Catholic University of Leuven; Pascal Rivière from INSEE;
Components Analysis PISA Programme for International Student Assessment (OECD) R&d Research and development RMS Residual Mean Square SEM Structural Equation Modelling SII Summary
i) mean years of schooling and (ii) gross enrolment ratio of tertiary students in science, mathematics and engineering.
the laggard and the average performance (Figure 2). Finland's top ranking is primarily based on having the highest values for the indicators relating to the Internet and university,
Royalties Internet Telephones Tech exports Electricity Schooling University Top 3 (average) Finland United states Note: Technology Achievement Index (TAI.
875 925 TAI Patents Royalties Internet Tech exports Telephones Electricity Schooling University Performance range Finland 38 HANDBOOK ON CONSTRUCTING COMPOSITE INDICATORS:
Internet 86 X Tech exports 63 X Telephones 100 X Electricity 100 X Schooling 82 X University 100 X Japan
100 X Schooling 78 X University 36 X Note: Technology Achievement Index (TAI. There are several ways to assign colours.
With the adoption of the European Statistics Code of practice in 2005, the Eurostat quality framework is now quite similar to the IMF's Data Quality Framework (DQAF),
The European Statistics Code of practice (Principles 11-15) focuses on statistical outputs as viewed by users.
where that number is a quantile of Student's t-distribution with degrees of freedom:
Table 6. Correlation matrix for individual TAI indicators PATENTS ROYALTIES INTERNET EXPORTS TELEPHONE ELECTRICITY SCHOOLING UNIVERSITY PATENTS 1. 00 0. 13-0
1. 00 0. 65 0. 26 SCHOOLING 1. 00 0. 08 UNIVERSITY 1. 00 Note:
07-0. 19 0. 30 0. 04 0. 16 SCHOOLING-0. 74 0. 11 0. 37 0. 39 0. 33
-0. 02 0. 20-0. 07 UNIVERSITY-0. 36-0. 12-0. 87 0. 15 0. 26-0. 03 0
while university is loaded exclusively on Factor 3. Finally, Factor 4 is formed by royalties and telephones.
0. 68 0. 77 ELECTRICITY 0. 82-0. 04 0. 25 0. 35 0. 85 SCHOOLING 0. 88 0. 23
-0. 09 0. 09 0. 85 UNIVERSITY 0. 08 0. 04 0. 96 0. 04 0. 93 Explained variance 2.
For instance, electricity and schooling are loaded no longer on F1: electricity is loaded on F4 and schooling on F2. 76%of the total variance is explained by the four rotated common factors.
In contrast, the total variance explained by the four rotated principal components was much higher in the previous analysis (87%.
%The commonalties for seven individual indicators are greater than 0. 64, with the exception of university, for
which indicates that university does not move with the other individual indicators in the data set,
0. 89 SCHOOLING 0. 14 0. 95 0. 10 0. 14 0. 95 UNIVERSITY-0. 01 0. 03 0. 03
Note also that the factor analysis in the previous section had indicated university as the individual indicator that shared the least amount of common variance with the other individual indicators.
0. 614 0. 624 SCHOOLING 0. 451 0. 662 UNIVERSITY 0. 249 0. 706 Note:
At the same time, the dynamic adopters are lagging behind the potential leaders due to their lower performance on Internet, electricity and schooling.
patents and university, are not useful in distinguishing between these three groups, as the cluster means are very close.
SCHOOLING ENROLMENT Cluster mean Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 PATENTS Note: Type: k-means clustering (standardised data.
the variable (1 2)/(2)= n t has a Student's t-distribution under the null hypothesis (absence of correlation)
Examples of normalisation techniques using TAI data Mean years of school age 15 and above) Rank*z-score Min-Max distance to reference country (c) Above/below the mean(**Percentile
25 0. 35 0. 25 0. 00 0. 05 0. 07 Schooling 0. 88 0. 23-0. 09 0. 09
0. 29 0. 04 0. 01 0. 00 University 0. 08 0. 04 0. 96 0. 04 0. 00 0
the third only by university (0. 77) and the fourth by royalties and telephones (weighted with 0. 49 and 0. 26).
. 08 Electricity 0. 11 0. 12 Schooling 0. 19 0. 14 University 0. 02 0. 16 6. 2. Data envelopment
Export Telephones Electricity Schooling University CI (weight)( weight)( weight)( weight)( weight)( weight)( weight)( weight)( score) Finland 0. 15 0. 17 0. 17 0. 16
Comparison matrix of eight individual TAI indicators Objective Patents Royalties Internet Tech exports Telephone Electricity Schooling University Patents 1 2 3
1 1 1/5 1/2 Schooling 1 2 5 2 5 5 1 4 University 1/3 1/3
AHP assigns high weights (more than 20%)to two indicators, exports and university, for which Korea has higher scores for one
analytic hierarchy process (AHP) Method Weights for the indicators (fixed for all countries) Patents Royalties Internet Tech exports Telephones Electricity Schooling University EW 0
or 2%of university enrolment in exchange for a 2%increase in electricity consumption. The implication is the existence of a theoretical inconsistency in the way weights are used actually and their real theoretical meaning.
Impact matrix for TAI (five countries) Patents Royalties Internet Tech exports Telephones Electricity Schooling University Finland 187 125.6 200.2 50.7 3. 080
and university (weight 1/8) . Thus the score for Finland is 4*1/8=0. 5,
followed by royalties, university, exports and schooling (Figure 26). Two indicators, telephones and electricity, appear not to be influential on the variance in the TAI scores.
Standardised regression coefficients for the TAI LOG TELEPHONE LOG ELECTRICITY SCHOOLING EXPORTS UNIVERSITY RECEIPTS PATENTS INTERNET 0 0. 1 0. 2 0. 3 0. 4
%Schooling 13.1%University 10.8%There appears to be no dominance issue in the TAI example,
In the Composite Learning Index developed by the Canadian Council of Learning (http://www. cclcca. ca/CCL/Reports/CLI/
for example, the social and economic benefits of learning are considered a latent variable since they can be measured only imperfectly by indicators such as crime rate, population health or unemployment rate.
In the Composite Learning Index the aggregation of sub-indices into a composite and the dependence of socioeconomic benefits on learning is captured by the multivariate regression
whereas the disaggregation of learning into social-economic outcomes takes the form of a measurement model.
Note that this complex architecture is used to estimate (recursively) the weights used to compute the Composite Learning Index.
Such policy learning can be enhanced by initiatives that facilitate cross country comparison and benchmarking. A telling example in this respect is PISA.
The use of league tables facilitates this process. It is also evident that analysis-based narratives such as those supported by composite indicators would gain in effectiveness
if citizens'statistical and economic literacy could be increased. Amartya Sen remarks that: the ability to exercise freedom may to a considerable extent, be directly dependent on the education we have received,
The challenge from innovation-based growth in the Globalising Learning Economy, Oxford Press. Feldt L. S.,Woodruffe D. J,
A comparative evaluation, Phd dissertation, Department of Geography, University of South carolina. Gentle J. E.;Härdle W. and Mori, Yuichi (eds.
Kahn J. R (1998), Methods for aggregating performance indicators, mimeo, University of Tennessee. Kaiser H. F. and J. Rice,(1974), Little jiffy, mark IV, Educational and Psychological Measurement 34,111-117.
American Educational research Journal, 4, 13-17. Korhonen P.,Tainio R, . and Wallenius J. 2001), Value efficiency analysis of academic research, European Journal of Operational Research, 130: 121-132.
OECD (2004), Learning for Tomorrow's World-First Results from PISA 2003, Programme for International Student Assessment, http://www. pisa. oecd. org/dataoecd/1
Columbia University Press. Roy B. 1996), Multicriteria methodology for decision analysis, Kluwer, Dordrecht. Saaty T. L. 1980), The Analytic Hierarchy Process, New york:
and is also pervasive input to a multitude of human activities (1998) HUMAN SKILLS SCHOOLING Years Mean years of schooling (age 15 and above),
which represents the basic education needed to develop cognitive skills (2000) UNIVERSITY%Gross enrolment ratio of tertiary students enrolled in science, mathematics and engineering,
INTERNET EXPORTS TELEPHONES (log) ELECTRICITY (log) SCHOOLING UNIVERSITY 1 Finland 187 125.6 200.2 50.7 3. 08 4. 15 10 27.4 2 United states
METHODOLOGY AND USER GUIDE ISBN 978-92-64-04345-9-OECD 2008 153 PATENTS ROYALTIES INTERNET EXPORTS TELEPHONES (log) ELECTRICITY (log) SCHOOLING UNIVERSITY 42
and Neapolitan (2001, Chapmann and Hall), Learning Bayesian networks. OECD PUBLICATIONS, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 PARIS CEDEX 16 PRINTED IN FRANCE (30 2008 25 1 P) ISBN 978-92
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