‘Universities have a key role in supporting economic growth’ – Hamilton

Economy Minister Simon Hamilton recently met Ulster University Vice-Chancellor Professor Paddy Nixon to discuss the university’s vision for higher education.

Speaking after the visit, the Minister said, “Our local universities have an important role to play in supporting Northern Ireland’s economic growth.

“If we are to remain an attractive place to do business we must invest in students, young people and the workforce to ensure that they are equipped with the skills that industry and our economy needs.

“The new Department for Economy provides a real opportunity to integrate what we are doing in terms of skills with our economic offering to the benefit of the whole economy in Northern Ireland.”

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The Minister continued, “Making sure the supply of skills meets the demands of employers now and in the future is central to our refocused economic strategy and is one of the draft Programme for Government indicators.

“We’ve a real asset in our people and we want to see those skills that they have being developed and improved so that we can compete in what is a very difficult global marketplace. Having a strong and sustainable higher education sector is incredibly important particularly in the context of reducing the rate of Corporation Tax.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Jun 29 2016. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry