A Partnership Approach to Digital Education and Innovation

Gower College Swansea has teamed up with Microsoft and partner education providers Coleg Gwent, Pembrokeshire College and Wrexham University to form the National Centre for Digital Skills (NCDS). 

The NCDS, which will provide a structured professional network that links together education and industry, was recently launched at Sketty Hall Business School.

“The demand for digital skills is increasing at pace across Wales, with needs ranging from essential workplace capabilities to advanced technical expertise,” explains Gower College Swansea Principal, Paul Kift.

“Employers need clearer routes to quality provision and individuals need visible pathways into rewarding digital careers, or assistance with improving their existing skillset. A coordinated national approach will help to reduce fragmentation, align activity to evidence and make existing strengths easier to access.

“Together, we can play a crucial role in tackling some of the existing issues by aligning provision with national and regional needs​, delivering a robust ‘demand-pull’ model of training design – enabling coherence across Wales​.”

Initial priority areas for training and development include Cloud, cyber, data, artificial intelligence and business productivity. 

“The National Centre for Digital Skills will act as a consortium of learning providers and industry leaders working in collaboration to deliver targeted training that addresses the existing digital skills gaps and supports the economic growth of Wales,” adds Peter Scott, the College’s Digital Skills and Innovation Lead.

“This collaboration with Microsoft, industry partners and other key learning providers will help realise the Wales-wide model for digital skills development.”

The guest speakers at the launch event were Tegan Aspden and Toby Harris – respectively Head of People and Culture and Learning and Development Lead – from the Cardiff-based digital consultancy, Stable.

“Over the last year, Stable has worked with Gower College Swansea and the NCDS to make Microsoft certified learning more accessible across Wales in areas like AI, cyber security, cloud and data skills,” said Toby. 

“Bringing together employers, learners and educators to understand what skills are needed today and what skills will be needed tomorrow is very exciting and we are thrilled to be involved in this coordinated, long term approach to developing the skills Wales needs to thrive in an increasing digital world.”

The partnership has recently benefitted from Strategic Development Funding from Medr, underlining the strategic importance of collaboration and cross sector partnership when it comes to digital skills. The funding has been used to establish capability across partners and to enrich learning experiences aligned with the needs of industry.