Lidl Ireland offers trainees a degree in retail management

The German hard discounter Lidl makes the headlines in Ireland where it offers potential employees the chance to obtain a degree in retail management. Lidl – a discount subsidiary of the German Schwarz Group – plans to enrol 40 trainees on a bachelor of business course to be completed in 30 months. The Irish Times writes this today.

Half the students' time will be spent studying management, marketing and accounting at the Dublin Business School, while the rest is work-based. Lidl will pay students €16,000 - €20,000 a year plus tuition fees for the duration of the programme. Participants will be employees of Lidl and will receive 20 days' holiday a year.

At the end, graduates will have "an excellent opportunity of being offered a permanent deputy store manager contract," the company says. The course has yet to be validated by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, but the council's chief executive Séamus Puirseil said to the Irish Times that this process would be completed by June.