I’ve written several times recently about various projects designed to shrink the digital skills gap that exists in most western economies. One of these was the launch in the UK of the Institute of Coding (IoC) earlier this summer. The launch was characterized by a rather fuzzy strategy, so it wasn’t entirely clear what they were hoping to do, and more importantly, how they would do so.
Flesh is beginning to be added to the bones however, as they recently announced the launch of a £2.3 million fund that will be delivered via the Office for Students to up to ten groups to improve access to digital skills education.
“Gaining access to high quality education and training is absolutely critical to tackling the UK’s digital skills shortfall. The IoC’s new fund will enable academic institutions and industry organisations to work together, developing cutting edge education to promote digital excellence and improve the technical skills for a new generation of workers. This initiative is the latest in a wide array of activity from the IoC to launch new services and spread digital skills across the country,” the IoC say.
Making coding cool
One of the more successful startups operating in this space are Hungarian-based company CodeCool, who take a novel approach to tackling the skills shortage by applying agile models of training. The company has recently secured €3.5 million in funding, and will use this to enter the UK market.
They are aiming to tackle the skills shortage that the European Commission have said will be around 900,000 strong by 2020. Their approach sees students working with experienced mentors for 12 months, followed by six months of paid internships in an IT role. The team believe that their agility allows them to adapt the curriculum to market needs much faster than universities, whilst the close relationship with business ensures the employability of graduates.
“Technology is moving faster than our ability to keep up with it, so if we don’t ensure our people have the skills of the future then businesses will not remain competitive,” founder József Boda says. “We know there is a need for businesses to find talent, so we are working hand-in-hand with them to get the right people, so we can guarantee our graduates with a job at the end of our course.”
It’s an approach that appears to be working, as the company has plans to set up 12 schools across Europe by 2022, with the UK firmly in their sights. These will build upon successful schools operating in Hungary and Poland.
I wrote recently about tech startup C3 IoT, who are paying staff to take a range of MOOCs on technical topics, and they are one of a number of tech companies who are actively involved in developing the next generation of tech skills. With so many approaches, the odds are surely strong that one of them will succeed.
