Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) has announced a three year partnership with Workday (NASDAQ: WDAY), a leader in enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, to foster the next generation of tech innovators. From hands-on coding workshops for local primary schools, to third level breakthrough research, the partnership will provide early talent with the foundational skills and know-how to pursue a career in technology, including providing underrepresented groups with opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Workday will initially commit approximately €450,000 to the TU Dublin partnership and provide diverse expertise and volunteer support from its growing Dublin workforce of more than 1,500 employees who are based at Workday’s European headquarters in Smithfield, Dublin 7.
The partnership will focus on workforce development, research collaboration and community engagement, including the following programmes:
- Primary school coding and tech skills workshops for local DEIS primary schools (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools initiative)
- Junior Cycle workshops and activities to demystify third level education and show potential career paths to those in the early stages of secondary school
- Secondary school Transition Year programme of practical tech career experience in both the workplace and TU Dublin campus
- Third level programme to deliver accredited ‘Enterprising People’ and ‘Enterprising Leaders’ skills, including mindset and resilience abilities
- Third level collaboration on research and to develop topical engineering and technology courses, with a focus on machine learning, security and cloud computing
TU Dublin is one of the largest Higher Education providers in Ireland with over 29,000 students across Dublin, including three campuses in Grangegorman, Blanchardstown and Tallaght. A leader in STEM disciplines, TU Dublin also supports the largest cohorts of students of business, media, culinary arts, and the creative and performing arts. The University is currently investing over €500 million in new, state-of-the-art, technology-enabled facilities to enhance its students’ experience and support research activities.
“TU Dublin and Workday have created a thoughtful and innovative partnership, which will excite and encourage younger people to consider a career in technology,” said Thomas Stone, VP for Partnerships at TU Dublin. “Building on the University’s engagement activity in our local communities across Dublin, the initiative will provide primary and secondary students from local DEIS schools with more opportunities to visit our campuses, participate in coding and technical workshops, and experience life as a TU Dublin student.”
“Together with TU Dublin, we hope to foster the next generation of innovators,” said Caroline O’Reilly, General Manager, Workday Analytics, Workday. “This partnership will help develop even more relevant engineering and technology courses, helping develop the next generation of multi-talented engineers. By offering relevant, focused activities for primary, secondary and third level students, we can jointly provide early talent with both the technical and people skills required to pursue a rewarding career in technology.”
