Springboard+ - Free and heavily subsidised courses at certificate, degree, and masters level

Springboard+ is a Government initiative offering free and heavily subsidised courses at certificate, degree, and masters level leading to qualifications in areas that can support your career progression with An Garda Síochána. There are 244 courses available under Springboard+ 2026, the majority of which are flexible and part-time. 

Please visit HEA - Springboard+ to view available courses.

The impact of further study on your career may be an obvious reason for participating in further education.  However, it is important for your Health and Wellbeing too. Participation in lifelong learning is important because of the health benefits for an increasing ageing population (Cabeza et al., 2018; Irish & Ramanan, 2021). A landmark study found that lifelong learning can be associated with delay in the onset of age-related mental decline (Vemuri et al., 2014).  People who took adult education classes between middle and older age were less likely ‘to experience cognitive decline’ later in life (Berman, 2023). De Felice et al. (2022) evaluated how social interaction benefits learning for adults across various domains, such as language skills, motor skills, and conceptual knowledge.