Dr. Mary-Liz Trant:

Our quickest development was the logistics associate apprenticeship in just nine months. It is hugely successful and is being used by over 100 employers. Other programmes take longer to develop. When we examined why the logistics associate apprenticeship developed so quickly we discovered there was a really coherent and dynamic industry group that had done their research, identified the skills need and found a partner in TU Dublin, which now includes the Blanchardstown campus. The group worked so well together that they got the apprenticeship fully developed and launched in nine months. On average, programmes take about a year and a half to development because a piece of work must be done to identify the skills need and make sure there is a demand. A significant amount of money - up to €80,000 - is made available by the State to develop an apprenticeship. It takes time for due diligence to make sure that something is viable and once it gets under way then it is very much up to the group involved as to level of resource that they can put into it and how quickly they can finish. The time can vary but we know that it is possible to develop a programme within a year.