Partnership project helps students develop skills for future employment
Edinburgh College has launched a new project in partnership with industry experts which aims to give our students an insight into what it’s like to work in the computing sector and provide them with the skills and experience needed to help them gain employment upon completion of their course.
The College’s HND Software Development students will work together in teams over the next 16 weeks to come up with a solution to a brief set to them by Edinburgh-based software technology company 2iTesting.
The project, which has Scottish Government funding through the Skills Boost programme, will challenge the students to work as part of a team and help them gain experience while working on a live project.
This project also aims to give students the knowledge and skills that will provide them with an opportunity to find a direct route into working in the computing industry after they have completed their course.
The brief set to students is for them to work together to learn a software testing approach and then identify and run tests as they would for clients in a real-life situation.
This coupled with the web and software engineering skills they have already learned at College and the employability skills now being supplied through the skills boost programme will enable them to have the knowledge and expertise to be successful in the industry.
Edinburgh College head of school for Computing Sam Blyth said: “I’m very excited about this innovative new approach to addressing the tech skills gap in the region alongside 2i Testing. Now more than ever we need to embrace that students leaving with a college education are more than ready to join the workforce. I’m very proud of what we have started and look forward to following our students success.”
2iTesting Head of Engineering Adam Pettman said: “At 2i we’re focusing on giving Scottish talent the skills and experience to directly help them start their careers. Participants in this initiative will be very well placed to take up junior roles in our industry. In 2022/2023 2i are looking to hire 50 junior engineers and our partnership with Edinburgh College will play a large part in this.
“The concept of the Skills boost programme appealed to 2i as we are keen to see a lower barrier to entry for our industry. Helping education to be accessible to all leads to more interesting and diverse work places, in turn this will drive the innovation that makes our industry truly exciting.
"I’m delighted that 2i and Edinburgh College have been able to start this partnership and I look forward to seeing where it will lead.”
