Ministers meet to discuss graduate opportunities

Employment and Learning Minister, Sir Reg Empey, today met with the Scottish Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, to discuss areas of mutual interest.

In particular the meeting with Linda Fabiani MSP was aimed at exploring opportunities for attracting highly qualified and skilled graduates to work in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

In Northern Ireland, the Department for Employment and Learning’s C’Mon Over campaign aims to address the skills needs of employers by encouraging those people with the skills we need to consider Northern Ireland as a place to live and work.

After the meeting Sir Reg said: “I am pleased to have had the opportunity to meet with Minister Fabiani to explore areas of best practice in attracting suitably skilled graduates to meet employers’ needs. My Department places a high priority on skills and the C’Mon Over campaign has to date been successful in attracting highly qualified graduates to live and work in Northern Ireland.”

The Minister also reported that since 1 July international graduates, who have completed their studies in any part of the UK, can now apply to remain in the UK for two years’ work experience. He said: “The implications of international students now being able to stay in Northern Ireland for two years post study, will improve Northern Ireland’s skills pool and further enable us to attract international graduates to live and work here for longer.”

Ms Fabiani said: “The Scottish Government’s Fresh Talent initiative has been very successful. It has attracted over 8,400 talented graduates to remain and work in Scotland post study, expanding the skills-base available to Scotland’s businesses.

“Our Fresh Talent model is now being replicated across the UK as Tier One – Post Study, further highlighting the success of this approach. As we develop Fresh Talent, and build on that success, we will be exploring options for retaining graduates longer than the current two-year period.

“I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet Sir Reg today and discuss our respective approaches to attracting and retaining talented graduates – an important challenge for both our countries.”

Notes to Editors:

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