Collaborating to support the recovery of the retail sector, the six Further Education Colleges in NI, supported by the Department for the Economy’s ‘Retail Recovery’ programme, will kick start bespoke training this month with a series of webinars on support available, accessing finance and people management.
Fully-funded through the Department for the Economy’s Flexible Skills Fund and Skills Focus, the webinar series will be followed, from September, with technical masterclasses and retail skills based training delivered by Belfast Met, Northern Regional College, North West Regional College, South Eastern Regional College, Southern Regional College and South Western Regional College, who are working in partnership with Retail NI to offer a tailored programme.
Glyn Roberts, Chief Executive, Retail NI said, “The retail sector has been under huge strain since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 and has only recently become fully operational again. Normal working practices have not been possible across the sector which is subject to continuous changes in restrictions.”
He added, “The face of retail has changed dramatically, and it is vitally important we support retail skills requirements with a co-ordinated approach from the FE colleges.”
Emma Finney, Innovation Manager, SERC’s Business Services Team said, “The Retail Recovery programme offered by the six Colleges of FE means that even the smallest, independent retailer can access support. The programme runs from August through to December 2021 and is bite-sized to build on skills and develop new ones – participants have access to the latest thinking on marketing, branding, digital and entrepreneurial skills whilst gaining sector desirable qualifications from Level 2 through to Level 5.
Visit bit.ly/CollegesRetailRecovery for full details. Contact Debbie Scott dscott@serc.ac.uk
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