At the Mullingar e-Working Centre for the official opening of the TUS Learning Hub were Seadna Ryan, head of Lifelong Learning; Pat Gallagher, CEO, Westmeath County Council; Bernie Cotter, Westmeath County Council; Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, cathaoirleach; Michael Tobin, dean, Faculty of Continuing, Professional, Online and Distance Learning; and Kevin Farrell, lecturer, TUS.

Local TUS Learning Hub now open

The newly opened Mullingar e-Working Centre TUS Learning Hub – the only one in Westmeath – is one of a number of ‘TUS Learning Gates’ that ensure higher education opportunities are available to more people.

The TUS Learning Gate, a concept introduced by Dr Michael Tobin, dean of Faculty of Continuing, Professional, Online and Distance Learning, establishes a location where TUS students and academic staff can meet and learn through one of the online programmes provided by the faculty at TUS Athlone Campus.

Dr Tobin said: “The TUS Learning Gate locations are organised as a remote working hub, like here in the e-Working Centre in Mullingar, with desks and offices in place, enabling students to have some of the third level experience in their towns. They minimise the necessity to travel to Athlone when attempting to seek out a quiet and professional space to work in.”

He said the concept “arose from student, lecturer feedback that online students often met in hotel foyers for group work, that broadband wasn’t good enough or that they had no quiet place to study or to access online classes”. Pat Gallagher, CEO, Westmeath County Council, said the objective of the TUS Learning Gate is to bring the delivery of higher education to Mullingar, to ensure those living and working in the town can access flexible, part-time programmes, as delivered by TUS.

Declan Doran, Business Development and Work Practice coordinator believes the Learning Gates also establish a TUS presence and show they are seeking to work with local industry in designing programmes and research opportunities. “TUS will use this as a location to seek funding to support learning opportunities locally under various government and other initiatives such as Springboard+, ICT Skills and the Human Capital Initiative. Programmes will be identified through consultation with local stakeholders and designed to support those working and living (and possibly commuting) in the vicinity of each TUS Learning Gate location.”

In the current academic year, TUS have more than 2000 students, predominantly adults, from all 32 counties, availing of part-time flexible programmes delivered online, in business, law, leadership, quality and lean, logistics, packaging, executive management and more.

The faculty also announced a collaboration with the eWorking Centre in Mullingar to offer a higher education academic programme exclusively through the Learning Gates, commencing in September. The Certificate in Business in Entrepreneurship programme aligns with the type of individual using the Learning Gates at present and offers the opportunity to gain a higher education qualification while enhancing their knowledge of entrepreneurship.

The programme will also provide opportunities for people not using the Learning Gates to access them and potentially start businesses, initially via the Learning Gates. Delivery will be offered at family friendly business hours.

Content includes e-business and web creation, finance, creativity and ideation for product innovation, professional development, career planning and mentoring, the business environment and the entrepreneur, sales practice and the pitch, social media applications along with all the supports the faculty provides to their online learning cohort.