Outstanding Achievement Award for NIBRT and IT Sligo Training Programme with MSD
At the IITD 2012 awards Merck Sharp Dohme’s (MSD) site in Brinny, Co. Cork was given an Outstanding Achievement Award for its innovative partnership programme with the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) and IT Sligo.
The awards were presented by Minister of State for Training and Skills, Ciarán Cannon TD. Speaking at the awards ceremony Minister Cannon said “The training and upskilling of our country’s workforce is a vital element of this country’s recovery from the current downturn. Training and upskilling will also play a vital part in securing the future competitive advantage of all enterprises and in enhancing future growth in productivity.”
In order to support transformational change and build talent, MSD partnered with IT Sligo and NIBRT to provide third level science education to colleagues across all levels and functions of the organisation. The company conducted a robust selection process and recruited 67 colleagues into four courses – a Higher Cert. in GMP Technologies, a BSc. (Ord) in Pharmaceutical Science, a BSc. (Hons) in Biopharmaceutical Science and an MSc. in Biopharmaceutical Science.
Fergal O’Donovan, MSD stated “Continuous education, personnel development and up skilling are a key enabler to success in today’s competitive environment. Finding the time for professional development and further education is hard in today’s workplace. However, the programs that NIBRT & IT Sligo offer are of excellent value and greatly facilitate the balance between on-going education and demands of the work place. From personal experience, the IT Sligo / NIBRT distant learning programs are flexible, value add and industry friendly”.
This is a significant investment for MSD, but one the company was committed to supporting in order to upskill its people. MSD employs 2,300 people in Ireland at five manufacturing sites, animal health and human health organizations and an EMEA shared business services centre. MSD employs 2,300 people directly in Ireland through its operations at sites in Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Tipperary and Wicklow.
IT Sligo is a recognised national leader in online education and has worked closely on staff training with a wide range of leading multinational companies such Coca Cola, Masonite International, Abbott Ireland and Baxter. Most recently it won the ‘Best in eLearning’ category in the 2011 Digital Media Awards.
NIBRT The National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) is a global centre of excellence for training and research in bioprocessing. NIBRT is located in a new, world class facility in Dublin, Ireland. This facility is purpose built to closely replicate a modern bioprocessing plant with state of the art equipment.
NIBRT is based on an innovative collaboration between University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University and the Institute of Technology, Sligo. NIBRT was primarily funded by the Government of Ireland through Ireland’s inward investment promotion agency, IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Agency), which is responsible for the attraction and development of foreign investment in Ireland. NIBRT offers a quality training and research experience not previously possible anywhere in the world. For more information see www.nibrt.ie.
Caption for photo: (L-R) Ian Nelligan, Technical and Training Director with NIBRT; Fergal O’Donovan. Technical Services Director with MSD Brinny; and Kieran Tobin, Lecturer, IT Sligo.