ACADEMY POISED TO HELP ARREST DIGITAL SKILLS SHORTAGE

A Warwickshire-based Digital Skills Academy has responded to predictions of a ‘catastrophic’ future skills shortage with news of its latest bootcamps designed to get people into coding and tech careers. The response comes on the back of a report by the Learning & Work Institute commissioned by WorldSkills UK that has highlighted the gap between the demand for AI, cloud and robotics skills and the numbers of new students currently engaging with IT and computer science studies.

Heading up the Digital Skills Academy (DSA), Katy Urwin said, “We are acutely aware of the need to address skills shortages and have been working with a number of businesses to identify accessible routes into careers that will meet the growing needs of industry in the years ahead. This latest report serves to reinforce our ambition to stimulate interest in IT careers and demonstrate how computing skills can open the door to a wide range of exciting job roles.

“Our coding bootcamps get people in on the ground floor and put them through their paces so that they can decide whether a career in IT is right for them. We also offer less intensive online digital skills courses for beginners at Level 1 and 2 including CompTIA Fundamentals (ITF+) and students will have the opportunity to progress including on to higher education.

“Our message to potential students is very clear. Skills in these areas can offer lucrative career paths and appealing job prospects. If they want to become indispensable in the job market, digital skills have never been in higher demand.”

The report, published this week, states that while 60 per cent of employers expect their reliance on digital skills to increase and eight out of ten young people know that they will need IT skills for work, there has been a consistent decline in numbers choosing IT subjects over the last six years.

Marion Plant, OBE FCGI, Principal and Chief Executive of North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC) said, “We are keen to address this trend by highlighting the exciting opportunities that digital skills can bring with skilled individuals going on to develop 3D video games, or mobile apps, design robots or work on projects that bring the Internet of Things to life from self-driving cars to smart homes.”

The beginners bootcamps, are scheduled to start on 12 April 2021 and 5 July 2021 and each will run for two weeks with an option to join online. Potential students should make contact as soon as possible to secure their place. The bootcamps are open to anyone who wants to test their skills and try out for a place on an apprenticeship in software development.

The Digital Skills Academy was established in Coventry following a successful bid led by NWSLC to secure funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority. The Academy was launched in response to growing momentum for the fast-paced digitisation of the UK and an acknowledgement that digital skills increasingly sit at the heart of all careers.

The Academy offers students a pathway to ‘in demand’ digital jobs in software development and cyber security so that businesses can access a pipeline of people with higher level skills and address gaps within their workforce. In addition, students can access opportunities to improve the types of digital skills on which every business increasingly relies.

Courses and apprenticeships at a range of levels are available both online, via the Academy’s base at the Coventry University Technology Park in the heart of the city’s technology zone. The Digital Skills Academy is expecting to extend its reach into Nuneaton town centre in the months ahead following confirmation this month that it will be one of 45 UK locations to benefit investment from the government’s Towns Fund.

The DSA is also geared up to respond to the needs of the logistics and supply chain sector supplying digital skills via a new training and research facility at Magna Park in Lutterworth. The Centre for Logistics Education and Research (CLEAR) will help the sector to address key challenges as the UK moves towards economic recovery and renewed growth following the coronavirus pandemic.

Digital Skills Academy training courses are delivered free of charge to individuals living within West Midlands Combined Authority postcode areas.