Employment and Learning Minister, Dr Stephen Farry, visited the Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) Training Centre at Campsie to tour the facility and meet with NIE Apprentices.

Speaking during the visit, Dr Farry said: "It is important to remember that without the involvement of employers there would be no apprentices. I would therefore like to congratulate NIE who, despite the economic challenges we face, continue to invest in training and skills in preparation for the opportunities which lie ahead.

"Employers understand the benefits that apprentices bring to their business with increased productivity, improved competitiveness and a committed and competent work-force. We need to continue to get the message out to all our employers that apprenticeships can help businesses across all sectors by offering a route to harness fresh new talent or indeed train an existing employee. I have recently launched a campaign which endeavours to build on our previous promotions, to engage with and motivate more employers to avail of the benefits of taking on apprentices."

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Minister Farry also offered his Department's support for NIE's Apprentice Graduate Scholarship Programme which will see two recently qualified NIE apprentices per year being offered the opportunity to apply to undertake and complete a BEng or MEng which will be sponsored by NIE.

Gordon Parkes, Human Resources Director at NIE said: "We have identified the Apprentice to Graduate Scholarship Programme as a key priority for NIE over the next 10 years. We need to recruit a significant number of graduate engineers to work on the electricity grid over the next decade and there simply are not enough coming through the usual channels. The high standard of our apprentices facilitates this programme and by sponsoring apprentices to become graduate engineers we offer development opportunities to highly skilled and motivated employees who will already have a broad level of practical experience as NIE apprentices."

(CD)