Prometric, which has grown its workforce to 168 in Ireland, has a close relationship with the Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) and employs 40 former students who have earned their degrees from the Institute. These employees demonstrate the value and talent Ireland offers multi-national employers, such as Prometric, which is based in the U.S and operates in more than 160 countries.
Garrett Sherry, Prometric’s Vice President and General Manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said, “Prometric has invested more than €75 million in Ireland over our past 10 years of operation. From the very outset of our plan to establish an Operations Centre in County Louth, in late 2011, we valued DkIT as a rich source of talent. The contributions our DkIT hires are making have not only supported our business growth, but connected Prometric closely with our community here in Louth and Ireland as a whole.”
40 Former DkIT Graduates Contributing to Major Advancements in Test Development and Delivery that Reach 160 Countries. Specifically, they have made their mark with Prometric in the following areas:
- Test Development: Hundreds of thousands of professionals worldwide are credentialed through certification and licensing programmes resting on the foundations provided by job analyses and other test development services conducted by Prometric.
- Test Delivery: Prometric is changing how the world can create jobs and protect consumers. Its latest partnership with BTL Learning and Assessment will bring new levels of accuracy and test publishing speeds, making tests more valuable to any organisation looking to hire qualified professionals and individuals looking to validate their knowledge, skills and abilities.
- Finance: Being a responsible corporate citizen, paying employees on time across multiple geographies, providing capital to invest in people and future growth all depend on Prometric’s team of finance professionals.
- Customer Service: Millions of people register for and complete exams with Prometric each year in order to gain employment or entry to university, and the company has a 99.8 percent candidate satisfaction rating.
DkIT, for its part, graduates approximately 1,400 students annually, with half continuing on to higher level programmes and half entering the job market.
Denis Cummins, President of Dundalk Institute of Technology, said, “Dundalk Institute of Technology has benefited greatly from a very positive relationship with Prometric since they established their European base in Dundalk. Prometric have engaged directly with staff and students at the Institute and this has resulted in a large number of our graduates being employed by Prometric.
Prometric has also been very open to providing high quality work placements to current students, particularly those from the Computer Science Department. The Institute has also benefited from the input of Prometric expertise into our course development ensuring that our curricula remain up to date and relevant. Prometric have provided software to the Institute so that our staff and students could gain experience on BETA testing software.
In summary, Prometric have been an exemplar of best practice in a model of industry/higher education collaboration and have enriched the educational experience of our students.”
Brendan Gallagher, who oversees operations at the Dundalk facility and is himself a former graduate of DkIT, said, “Having graduated from DkIT myself, I am very familiar with the great work the Institute does not only in educating their students in their chosen discipline, but also in preparing them for entry into the workplace. The fact that we have 40 people on our team who have come through DkIT is a reflection of that work, the talent available locally, and our commitment to supporting that talent in the form of highly skilled jobs.”
In addition to full-time staff, Prometric brings in six interns from DkIT each year and gives them real-world practice related to their degree programmes, such as Computer Science, in order to prepare them for quality jobs once they complete their studies. Cornelia Connolly, Ph.D., Lecturer of Computing and Mathematics and DkIT’s liaison with Prometric for its internship programme, said, “Prometric and the Department of Computing and Mathematics go back for a number of years, when Prometric set up offices in Dundalk.
Prometric have been a keen industrial supporter of the Department of Computing and Mathematics at Dundalk Institute of Technology. The company have employed our students during their work placement the last number of years. The students concerned are in their third year of a four year BSc (Hons) in Computing, and many of them have gained full-time employment upon completion of their course. Typical assignments that our students have taken on successfully in the past cover a wide range of activity, e.g., software and web development, system and database administration, special projects, routine system support.
A work placement gives students the chance to gain hands-on-experience of the working world. It helps them put the theory learned in the course into practice, explore career opportunities and enhance their personal and professional development. Work placement at Prometric resources our Computing and Mathematics Department students with work-ready capability, cultivated relationships with employers which together make the educational programmes relevant to the future career prospects of our students.”
Interested in making a global impact? Visit Prometric’s Job Fair, Thursday, Dec. 3, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Prometric’s Dundalk Operations Centre, Building 3, Finnabair Business Park.
