The hunt for 'up-skilling' initiatives has taken a Stormont Executive Minister to the USA.

The Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry is visiting the US this week to examine new policies and initiatives in education, skills training and workforce development which could be applied in Northern Ireland.

The Minister will also be looking at stateside initiatives to get people back into employment and models of best practice in developing university and industry collaboration.

The Minister said: "This visit will allow me to explore initiatives and programmes being taken forward in the US which could be applied to Northern Ireland to have a positive impact on the skills of our workforce and produce tangible benefits for our people and our economy.

"We must strive to find innovative ways of stimulating transformational change of our skills and training landscape. Investment in skills is a critical driver for the local economy and is central to future economic growth," he said.

During the visit the Minister will be addressing an international conference in Washington.

The Atlantic Council's 'Building the Employment Agenda: New Solutions to Close the Skills Gap' conference will discuss and develop practical strategies to tackle the growing skills gap that is contributing to high unemployment and lowering competitiveness on a global scale.

He will also host meetings with influential business leaders and government officials on the subjects of education, skills training and workforce development, and have meetings with Georgetown, Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon universities to explore models of best practice in developing university and industry collaboration.

Yesterday, the Minister visited the Institute of Pittsburgh, which has delivered job training initiatives to over 1,500 unemployed adults from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and led more than 100 US businesses on fact-finding missions to Ireland - North and South.

The Minister said: "Pittsburgh provides examples Northern Ireland can learn from. The City has taken advantage of the opportunities provided by the knowledge-based economy, skills development and the creative sector to assist in the economic regeneration of the area.

"I am looking forward to meeting with key opinion formers and organisations within the US at Federal and State level and in the world of business.

"I am also keen to ensure that this visit will produce tangible benefits for Northern Ireland - benefits for our universities and businesses, benefits for our workforce in terms of skills growth and productivity, and benefits for our population who will have the opportunity to improve their skill levels in order to improve their employment opportunities and their living standards," he concluded.

(BMcC)