IT Sligo remains busy as ever
THOUGH students may not have been on campus as usual over recent weeks, IT Sligo remains as busy as ever.
With students learning and completing assessments remotely, and staff carrying out their work from home, the third level institution has also offered itself as a key driver in the fight against Covid-19.
The entrepreneurial spirit of IT Sligo is evident in a number of initiatives it is currently involved in across a variety of sectors, including in the production of PPE and the manufacturing of ventilators. The IT has also provided facilities for the ALONE counselling service to train staff, and is working with local business groups to provide training and guidance.
“The campus is still there, people are coming in and out, they need permission to come in and out maybe to collect results for students as the case may be,” IT Sligo President Brendan McCormack said.
“We have some companies in the innovation centre that are working on Covid related problems with the frontline, The Garda Siochana are using the facility and we had the county council in with us on Monday.
“We are producing PPE, producing in the order of 300 face guards a day. There’s a regular collection everyday from the HSE, nursing homes and different groups coming in. We’ve a mini production run for that. We’re producing ventilators, working with the doctors in the hospital, particularly in the intensive care. Normally, you design a device and it could take you five years into a hospital with all the approvals that need to be done, but this is being designed, tested and validated by the hospital and we’ve one ready for use and we’re looking at maybe six to ten more being produced. We’re doing that with the University of Limerick.”
As well as these initiatives, IT Sligo is also helping the business community both in Sligo and further afield through training and education workshops. One of the more innovative ideas was with the IDA, where IT Sligo provided a MOOC - a Massive Open Online Course - to IDA companies at their request.
“We’re working with the Chamber of Commerce, they’re developing a number of short courses. The area we’re focussing on in the IT is support for micros so support for small companies and SMEs, how to convert your business into online. It’s very much training, it’s not academic education as such. Staff are working on that sort of stuff, working with Sligo Chamber, working with the Local Enterprise Office and everybody.”
As always, IT Sligo remains fundamentally committed to ensuring the education of its students, even with the challenges posed by students and staff having to stay away from the campus.
“Our primary objective is to maintain the education process and to ensure that this year’s students, the students of 2019/20 successfully complete their learning and assessment, so they can finish out the year and get their results. Particularly for the final year student to get their awards, and finish out and go on into the workforce.