A BUSY QUARTER RECRUITING FOR THE FIRST INTAKE OF 2023

Another successful start to the year! Our team were busy at the beginning of this year with our Jan/Feb recruitment and commencement of programmes. Over 725 new students started with us in this intake. We look forward to helping all our students through the programmes to graduation later in the year. 

A Level 7 Bachelor of Science in Process Digitalisation has been developed and submitted to QQI for consideration. This is a 60 credit ordinary degree & will provide a progression route for our L6 students and includes the following modules: 

There are also 2 x 30 credit embedded awards included in the submission which are as follows: 

Further updates will be provided as we receive more information from QQI on the progression of this application. 

Our main focus for Qtr 1 has been recruitment for our January & March where we successfully recruited 156 students for these intakes.  

The Regional Orientations took place at TUS for the following programmes  

It was great to have the Regional Orientation face to face which focuses on engagement with students and the group activities conducted on the day ensure this is achieved.  Their personal introduction really help them to get to know one another. We have lots of referrals from family & friends and to mention just a few we have siblings (the 3 Hughes brothers and 4 sets of partners studying at present across our programmes).  

We had a number of progression students who shared their positive experiences of studying with Innopharma and offered excellent advice to the group. Overall the feedback was excellent  and  the students were most appreciative of their welcome gift and complimentary refreshments.  

Grow your career week at Medtronic 

Ann Ryan & Anne Jordan attended this event in March. It was a great event and they secured a number of applicants for our programmes.

National Supply Chain & Logistics Conference

In March, Anne Jordan got the  opportunity to talk about our Micro credentials programmes in Operational Excellence & Supply Chain as well as our  Level 6 Operational Excellence, Level 6 Information Technology in Process Digitisation and MSc in Digital Transformation. 

Susanne is the Education Coordinator for the Examinations team and the Level 6 Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Operations programme. She works with the Head of Examinations and Assessments to organise the Exam cycle and with students in exam preparation. As the Education Coordinator for the Level 6 Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Operations Programme she helps onboard new students and guide them through the study process. Susanne holds a LLB (Hons) Law degree and is currently studying for a BSc (Hons) in Nutritional Science. Prior to working for Innopharma, Susanne worked in the construction and healthcare sector in Digital transformation and continuous improvement strategy.  

On March 8th we attended the Grad Ireland careers fair. A very busy day and we were lucky to be in such a great spot with plenty of footfall. As well as speaking with potential new students it was lovely to speak with existing students who recognize the stand and approached us to tell us about how much they are enjoying the course and experience with Innopharma. Also a very strong knowledge and interest in the Tech services Validation programme from our current students that we spoke to. 

February 9th was an exciting and rewarding day when the QQI Programme Approval Executive Committee met and approved a number of programmes that were presented to validation panels in late 2022. The following programmes were approved: 

MSc in Medical Device Technology & Business (Collaboration with Griffith College) – this validation was to have the existing PG Dip replaced with a Master’s programme, which also includes the PG Dip as an embedded award. The MSc will be advertised to International students and the first intake is planned for September 2023. 

Innopharma Education developed 5 Microcredential programmes, all of which were also approved which increases our course offering as an independent college from 3 – 8. The programmes are as follows: 

• Certificate in Supply Chain (20 ECTS) 

• Certificate in Operational Excellence (25 ECTS) 

• Certificate in IT & Industrial Automation (30 ECTS) 

• Certificate in Data Visualisation and Analysis (20 ECTS) 

• Certificate in Transversal Skills (5 ECTS) 

The first microcredential class started on Saturday 25th March studying the Certificate in Operational Excellence and a second class studying for a Certificate in Supply Chain is planned for April 

OUR LAB FACILITIES

The lab facilities were used for the first time by our L6 Pharmaceutical & Medical device operations students, Dublin cohort. They completed their mandatory lab for the Pharma Science module. A very successful session which gets our students on site and alleviated pressure on booking lab time in Tallaght campus.  looking forward to seeing more students on site in Sandyford in the future for their lab sessions. 

We had 123 Students from September intake sit their exams in January and we are now planning for our 379 Students to sit their exams in May in Athlone & Limerick.  

CAREER FAIRS

We attended a number of events in Qtr 1 and which has been highly effective in promoting our brand & Programmes and for collaborating with other providers and companies which has led to 2 upcoming company site visits. 

Our marketing activities have been performing very well as we focus on more targeted campaigns. We reached 725 student enrolments this intake which is a 4% increase compared to our target number. This is also a 15% increase compared to September last year and a total of 48% increase YoY. 

The paid social campaigns delivered +263% more leads YoY at a 59% lower cost per lead.  

Our search visibility increased by +137% in Google Search Results compared to last year. This helped us drive 9.7k sessions from Google Search (+14% YoY) This resulted in 269 Leads from Organic Search (+12% YoY). 

Traffic from our blogs grew by 74% YoY and brought in 90% more leads compared to last year. We would like to thank everyone who helped us complete the briefs, it is great to get content straight from the experts and then to see leads come in directly from the blogs. 

We are seeing increased engagement from our email campaigns and this month we are focusing on segmenting the email lists so that we can send out personalised emails to our leads. We are also automating email workflows, taking the lead on a journey to nurture them into making a course decision.  The open rates and click rates grew by 114.5% and 18.6%, respectively, compared to the previous intake. 

We have also seen a significant increase in the number of international students arriving at our campuses this quarter. This demonstrates our growing reputation as a leading provider of pharmaceutical education and training globally.

THE FIRST QUARTER HAS BEEN A BUSY START FOR TS!

We kicked off our recruitment in January with Career Fairs in both NUIG & UL, which were attended by Paul Hession & Sonia Conway, both of which were highly successful! 

Abir Gabteni

I am Tunisian, a pharmacist and resident in Ireland since January 2022. I joined Innopharma's validation programme in March 2022; Cohort 18 and I am currently working at Amgen as part of the Cleaning Validation team. I love baking, I got that from my mother, I also love dogs, and that's my boy "Mojito" with me In the picture and watching football all day long would probably be my toxic trait. 

Ciaran Murphy

My background is originally in construction, more specific, carpentry where I worked for 20 years, until I decided to change career. I started studying Biopharmaceutical Science online with IT Sligo and NIBRT and obtained a Level 8 BSc degree. I then started an internship with Innopharma. Upon completion of the internship, I was contracted out to BMS where I currently work as a QC Analyst in their separation's lab. My hobbies are playing football, golf and guitar! 

Eshita Rane

I hold a B.Tech. in Biotechnology, MSc. In Biotechnology from University College Dublin. I've worked as a Production Operator at Jabil Healthcare and Sample Manager in Eurofins before I joined the QC Course with Innopharma at the end of last year. And I'm currently working at Bristol Myers Squibb, Cruiserath as a QC Analyst contractor from Innopharma. I enjoy watching movies at the cinemas on weekends and I also like to read and watch anime. I recently joined the BMS tennis club which now seems to have a potential to be my new hobby.

Angelica Menin

I hold a BSc. in Biomedical Sciences and a MSc. in Genetics applied to Pathology. I have almost 10 years of experience in different sorts of laboratories, such as Toxicology, Clinical Analysis, Molecular Biology and Microbiology. I am currently working as Quality Control Analyst at BMS, as an Innopharma contractor. In my free time I like playing tennis, rollerblading, travelling, listening to Heavy Metal and going to gigs and festivals with my friends.

Congratulations to Pedro De Grandis & family on the arrival of their beautiful baby boy Filippo born in March. 

Nisha Sharma 

I Nisha Sharma had a biological laboratory technician 2 years of experience in calibrating, cleaning, and testing the sterility of lab equipment, and was performing risk assessments in India. In my past role in Ireland I was working as a supervisor at the Food and Beverage department of Starbucks, I am well exposed to hygiene, health, and safety procedures and policies. And well exposed to SOPs(for Basic food hygiene, Manual Handling) HACCP training protocols, Store Evacuation Procedures, logbooks with GMP, and GDP standards. I hold a Master’s in Pharmaceutical Business and Technology from Innopharma Education & Griffith College Dublin and also holds a Master’s degree in Botany from India and was also awarded a Gold Medal in Botany in India. Paper Presented on “SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT” in 2019 in India. Currently, working as a Cell Therapy Technologist at TAKEDA Pharmaceuticals, Grange Castle Dublin. I am a life science person and enjoy learning and experiencing life science adventures.  

Hilal Katal 

I am pleased to introduce myself as a pharmacist with over a decade of experience in the field. I worked as a hospital pharmacist and managed my pharmacy in Turkey.  After moving to Ireland, I took data analysis courses from IBAT and UCD Colleges. Then, I accepted a place in the Innopharma Validation Engineering program.  Currently, I am pursuing a Post Graduate Digital Transformation program at Griffth College with Innopharma Education. As someone passionate about continuous learning and professional development, I am excited to join this esteemed company as a technical writer. I enjoy playing board games, singing in a choir, and participating in community activities. I look forward to meeting each of you. 

Viridiana Balcazar Enriquez 

My name is Viridiana. I hold a Master's in Chemical Engineering focused on Polymers and Nanocomposites. I worked as a Quality Engineer and Production planning specialist at Honda Mexico. I recently completed a Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Business and Technology from Griffith College.  Thanks to the support of Innopharma, I had the opportunity to start my first job in the pharmaceutical industry. I am currently working as a Cell Therapy technologist at Takeda Pharmaceutical in Grange Castle. I am passionate about coffee and enjoy watching movies, travelling, playing board games, and listening to music (I like discovering new singers/bands and diverse music genres).

• Abir Gabteni started a Cleaning Validation role in Amgen

• Ciaran Murphy, Eshita Rane & Angelica Menin all with QC roles in BMS .

FEBRUARY NEWS

We welcomed Cohort 21, a new group of Validation Engineering Interns to embark on our 14-week training programme. 

We wish them a successful journey! 

Congratulations to Stacey Carmody & her family on the arrival of their beautiful baby boy Oisín born in January  

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Apurva Shirgupikar on her recent wedding. We wish Apurva & her husband all the happiness for their future together 

Our recruitment continues with attendances at the GradIreland Careers Fair in the RDS by Luke Kiernan & the Life Sciences Careers Fair held by the Medical Research & Technology Society at UCC where Sonia Conway & Paul Hession attended  

• Zitta Raissa & Siva Ramakrishna Gujjula who both started roles in Regeneron Limerick

• Msteslav Cozloukov, Nisha Sharma, Viridiana Balcazar Enriquez & Blesson Mathew all with QC roles in Takeda .

• Hilal Katal with a Technical Writer role in Grifols 

Zitta Raissa 

My name is Zitta Raissa, and I am from Indonesia. I completed my bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and Human Genetics in Taiwan and my master's degree in Regenerative Medicine at NUIG in Ireland. Prior to relocating to Ireland, I spent 1.5 years managing and preparing a new hospital system for the hospital's grand opening, along with laboratory work experience, particularly in stem cells. On March 20, 2023, I started my new role as CSV Engineer at Regeneron. In my spare time, I enjoy going to cafes and watching Netflix. 

I am Siva, I am originally from India. I have completed my bachelor's degree in pharmacy for four years. Thereafter, I did my first masters in Pharmaceutical Analysis and Quality Assurance back in India. Then after my masters I started my journey in pharma world as an Analytical chemist and this continued for four years with the three different companies such as Hetero, Dr.Reddy’s, and Apotex. I also worked as a QA professional for four years with the company called Aragen Life Sciences in India. I really loved to work in all my roles. My dream was to work in abroad and getting international exposure for better career progression. With this view, while I am working with Aragen, decided to move abroad for and finished my second masters in Pharmaceutical Business and Technology from Griffith College Dublin with the collaboration of Innopharma education. Thereafter, I successfully got a place on the Innopharma Validation program and eventually secured a role as QA Validation engineer-Tech writer in Regeneron with the extensive support of Innopharma team. I started my role in Regeneron from March 20th-2023 and I am very happy working here and put my best to prove myself to achieve the milestones. Apart from my profession, I like playing cricket, watching movies, visiting new places, expanding my connections with the people as much as I can. Apart from my profession, I like playing cricket, watching movies, visiting new places, expanding my connections with the people as much as I can.

Msteslav Cozloukov

Hello, my name is Msteslav, I graduated from TUD – Tallaght with a higher diploma in pharmaceutical manufacturing. I have previously worked as a Lab Technician for ALT and a 3-month internship with Innopharma as a QC Analyst. Currently I am proud to be working for Takeda Ireland Grange Castle as a Cell Therapy Technologist. In my downtime I like to express my creative nature through playing music (keyboard), reading/writing stories and gaming. I aspire to one day create something either via work or hobbies that will have significant importance on peoples lives in a positive way. 

Blesson Mathew 

I, Blesson Mathew did Doctor of Pharmacy degree (Pharm-D) from India and have M.Sc. in Food Business Management and Technology from TUD. I have worked as Pharmacovigilance Associate in Cancer Trials Ireland performing safety of oncology clinical trials, regulatory submissions for European Medicine Agency and Health Product Regulatory Authority of Ireland (HPRA) for 4 years before moving into my new role as Cell therapy technologist In Takeda Grange Castle Ireland. I am very excited to work with Takeda in Cell therapy manufacturing and see the lives of people getting better by helping those who need support through advanced regenerative treatments. I like to drive a lot, explore new places and my love for music is endless as I am a singer and keyboardist. 

THE INNO BOOK CLUB

The Innopharma Book Club meets every Wednesday - it is never too late to join. Aprils book is The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. 

The Outsiders is an outstanding story of teenage rebellion, written when the author was only 17. Teenagers in a small Oklahoma town have split into two gangs, divided by money, tastes and attitude. The Socs' idea of having a good time is beating up Greasers like Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy knows what to expect and knows he can count on his brothers and friends - until the night someone takes things too far, and life is changed forever. 

Keep an eye out for events happening over the summer – they'll be a big splash 😉