e-skills UK, Napier and ScotlandIS launches Scottish placement programme
E-skills, the sector skills council, has launched a new placement scheme for students in Scotland. The scheme will be funded by the Scottish Funding Council. E-skills will develop the Placement Programme in partnership with ScotlandIS, Scotland’s ICT trade body and the Scottish Universities. Edinburgh Napier will be the lead for the university sector.
The partnership plans to work with more than 250 employers across Scotland to create 750 work-based learning placements up to a year in length over the next three years. The placements, which are set to start later this year, will be designed to meet the employer’s needs and form part of the student’s degree. Students will receive an employer-endorsed certificate at the end of their placement, and will be paid by the company they work for. Employers supporting the programme include BT, Cisco, Oracle and Lumison.
Karen Price, Chief Executive of e-skills UK said: “The e-skills Placement Programme will give undergraduates the opportunity to gain valuable experience and increase their employability skills to meet the needs of employers once they graduate.”
Welcoming the anouncement, Polly Purvis, Executive Director, ScotlandIS said "We are particularly pleased to be a partner in this initiative, . Placements significantly increase students employability, although this is often not recognised by the students themselves. With the current challenges young people face in finding permanent jobs, providing a comprehensive student placement scheme across the whole of Scotland is particularly opportune.
Developing a structured network that builds on current best practice and ensures that industry career opportunities are linked more effectively to potential new employees, enabling students to enhance their skills and employability, is highly valuable."
Brendan Dick, director of BT Scotland, and chair of the eskills UK Scotland board, said:: “This placement scheme will significantly enhance Scotland’s ability to both attract the next generation of ICT professionals that our economy needs and, importantly, give us greater flexibility and choice in how skills are developed to meets the needs of the workplace in the future.”
Read on at : Computerworld UK