A NEW aviation academy launched at an Irish university this week is a “commitment to the future of aviation in Ireland”.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin formally unveiled the new University of Limerick-based (UL) Irish World Aviation Academy (IWAA) yesterday afternoon.
It is a strategic partnership between UL and AirNav Ireland, the new national air navigation service provider established to manage air traffic control in Irish airspace.
“University of Limerick has a long, proud and productive heritage in aviation,” Mr Martin explained.
“This relationship between UL and the aviation sector comes from outstanding cooperation and has given rise to the Irish World Aviation Academy.
“It is the ideal completion of the relationship between education and enterprise.”
UL President Professor Kerstin Mey, and AirNav Ireland CEO Dr Peter Kearney said the Academy would build a new force in aviation focused on innovation, learning and capitalising on opportunity.
Professor Mey went on to describe the IWAA was a “world first” in both education and aviation, citing that this scheme marks one of the first times a university and a commercial state company had come together to form a new entity to serve the learning, research, and developmental requirements of the sector.
This Academy, operated jointly by UL and Air Nav Ireland, will be a flagship for the future of embedded learning in aviation.
“It will offer executive learning and leadership capability development to senior personnel. It will be a unique asset to the aviation sector in Ireland,” Professor Mey explained.
She further confirmed that the Academy would be based at UL and would also deliver on its educational remit at industry locations worldwide where learning is delivered through a partnership between key industry professionals, university staff and Air Nav Ireland partnering where relevant with IAA to deliver an “experiential and research-led education”.
Praising the scheme, the Tánaiste added: “The model is a good one and I know other industries are looking with interest at this collaboration with education as a model for future learning, innovation, and growth.
“Universities are the birthplace of fresh thinking, innovation and business development, and our economy needs the ideas for the future that emerge from them.
“I want to commend UL and AirNav Ireland for having the foresight to develop this Academy and I wish them all the best in the future as it develops.”
