Google Ireland has announced a partnership with CodePlus to help address the gender balance in third-level computer science in Ireland.
Founded in Trinity College Dublin, the CodePlus programme aims to support female students, help them make more informed decisions about further education courses in tech, and ultimately to consider a career in computer science.
Google will provide funding of €100,000 to the Trinity Foundation, as TCD serves as the lead institution on the project.
CodePlus has helped over 10,000 students to date and last year expanded to include NUI Galway and the University of Limerick.
Also supported by Science Foundation Ireland and Bank of America, CodePlus includes a 20-hour series of intensive, hands-on coding workshops for female secondary students delivered on university campuses.
In Association with
Participating students also have access to industry webinars, site visits and career talks from IT professionals, role models and mentors.
"We are delighted to announce our partnership with CodePlus today," said Jessica McCarthy, head of engineering at Google.
"We know that there are meaningful and rewarding career opportunities in this space but sadly, we continue to see disproportionately lower numbers of women participating at both third level and professional junctures.
“The CodePlus programme is an excellent way for young women to learn about computer science, coding and opportunities in the tech space at a point in their lives when they make decisions that can often impact their future career choices.
"We are encouraging teachers and students to sign up for the programme so that more young women can avail of the opportunities a career in computer science provides, and so that computer science can benefit from having more women in the field.”
Linda Doyle, provost and president and Trinity College Dublin, said: “Programmes such as CodePlus have a huge role to play in addressing the gender gap that still exists in the ICT profession. The statistics tell us that not enough women consider ICT to be a viable career prospect.
"Research shows that CodePlus is effective at changing students’ impressions, particularly when it comes to considering a career in computer science or the IT profession. Today’s announcement is a further endorsement of the excellent work being done by CodePlus and I want to congratulate everyone who has been involved in this programme.
"We are delighted to welcome our new partner Google as we continue to reach more and more of tomorrow’s female ICT professionals and engineers.”
(Pic: Getty Images)
