A new scholarship will allow Forth Valley College to offer vocational training courses and funding to Italian citizens who may have lost their jobs, during the pandemic lockdown.
Organised by the Comites di Scozia e Irlanda del Nord in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy for Scotland and Northern Ireland and the Scotland Office of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK, this project aims to offer scholarships to Italian citizens living in Scotland and Northern Ireland who have lost their jobs during the past year and who wish to take a vocational training course of 1-12 months, at a college in the two nations in 2021. A total of 32 scholarships in Scotland and eight in Northern Ireland are available.
The Comites - representative bodies of the Italian community, directly elected by Italian citizens living abroad in each consular area - representing them in relations in front of the diplomatic-consular authorities, believes that professional retraining could be a great way to help Italian citizens who lost their job to find another occupation, exploring new work fields or deepen their current knowledge.
The scholarships will be available at 80% of the cost of the course, up to a maximum of £500 (VAT included) and applicants – who need to contact the Comites in the first instance before applying to the College – will be able to apply to study for vocational training courses.
Cav Adriano De Marco President of the Comites di Scozia e Irlanda del Nord, said: “The Comites is a committee which represents the Italian community in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Due to COVID, many Italians have found themselves in a particularly difficult situation. For this reason the Comites, together with the Italian Government, have provided a grant to sponsor courses to enable Italians to retrain and have more opportunities to find a new job in the future. The collaboration of colleges in Scotland and Northern Ireland is paramount to this end, so I would like to thank Forth Valley College for this important support in this initiative.”
Pamela Duncan, FVC Student Records Manager, who helped organise the collaboration, said: “We are delighted to be working together with the Italian authorities in offering their citizens the chance to study here at Forth Valley College and help them retrain and upskill as they endeavour to find new jobs or change careers in light of the effects of the pandemic lockdown. We look forward to this very positive collaboration and hope it can lead to even stronger links and partnerships in the future.”