Specialist Provision for Industry using College Expertise (SPICE)
This is another initiative created and programmed in SERC and has been shared with all the Colleges in NI. We no longer have centres of excellence, we have specialisms. SPICE has the BEST software behind it.
Businesses looking for ‘up skilling’ for their staff, offering placements and industrial projects etc. can go into the website and select the college most suitable to their requirements. This improves the communication in NI between companies and the colleges.
SPICE Centers (NI Colleges)
- Support Inward Investment and growth for NI Companies
- Support Priority Sectors and specific industry business needs
- Ensure Specialisms Capacity are aligned to Industry needs
- Develop Career Paths supporting students of today to become employees and business leaders of the future
SPICE will
- meet your training needs with specialist bespoke, compliance, technical and management training
- provide consultancy and mentoring with 1:1 advice and support for SME’s to innovate and grow their business
- support research and Innovation through technology transfer, innovation, applied research and prototyping
- deliver business solutions through student projects, placements and part-time employment
- provide advice on accessing funding to support your business to grow
- deliver customised training through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and InvestNI Innovation Vouchers
- support your business with Business Technology Seminars and Conferences
Website is http://www.spiceni.com
This was mentioned a few times throughout the Study Visit week in NI. SERC takes a holistic approach to promoting its services and when staff are engaging with a business in one area they promote all our other services e.g. if Carolyn is talking to a company about placements she will enquire if they have any training needs and refer the company to SERC’s business unit etc.
Any member of SERC staff working with businesses are asked to promote other areas of the college. As Sharon has stated, if I am on a placement visit I will enquire about possible industrial projects or if we can offer courses to up skill staff or ask if there are additional placement opportunities which may suit the Training Organisation in SERC. Staff feed this information back to the relevant SERC departments and quite often BEST is the tool utilized.