Supporting your institution in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
There have been many reports and news articles indicating a lack of digital skills in the UK workforce of today and tomorrow. One recent article mentions the government’s Industrial Strategy White Paper which notes that “within two decades, 90% of jobs will require some digital proficiency, yet 23% of adults lack basic digital skills.”
Jisc has made clear to government that education providers must adopt a comprehensive digital strategy to prepare students for the fourth industrial revolution.
The Education Select Committee recently launched an inquiry into the implications of the fourth industrial revolution. The inquiry is examining how best to prepare young people to take advantage of future opportunities by looking at the digital elements of the school curriculum. It is also looking at the role of lifelong learning and how best to help people climb the career ladder in the future.
With rapid developments in technology including artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), data-driven decision making, virtual/augmented reality and robotics, it is clear that the future workforce of the UK needs to be digitally capable.
Supporting and Adopting Change
Phoenix can support your institution to drive the change and adopt the technologies required to enable both students and staff to contribute to this fourth industrial revolution.
Change will inevitably come from within the institution but we can support management and staff to enable the use of programmes and technologies from multiple major vendor partners; help drive the establishment of stable and future-ready infrastructure; facilitate access to training for both staff and students in the use of new technologies; and last but by no means least provide assistance to key stakeholders in assembling a digital strategy that will take your institution, staff and students into the next industrial revolution, equipped with the skills required to make a positive contribution to a global economy.
As an example, let us look at providing staff, students and perhaps even the wider community with access to digital skills and digital literacy curriculums and certification. One major provider has recognised the need to provide digital literacy to users who are either new to computing or have some limited experience. Course content can include:
- Fundamentals of computing
- Explaining the components of a computer
- Exploring operating system basics and how to use a mouse and a keyboard
Through to:
- Exploring the most common productivity software applications used in school, at work, and at home.
- Choosing the right software for projects
- Fundamentals of word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, and databases
These are examples of ensuring everyone can have a fundamental grasp of digital literacy. But what about Digital Skills? Examples of future workforce where there will be a need for a grounding in digital skills include:
- Lorry drivers will need digital literacy with driverless vehicles on the horizon
- Doctors will work alongside AI to diagnose and treat medical conditions faster than ever before
Phoenix Software can provide you with the relevant information to the free courses and certification to support a digital skills strategy.
Many major software vendors provide free training and resources to help ensure students have the key vocational skills to support their academic qualifications, once they graduate from your institution
For example, consider Virtualisation:
Businesses use virtualisation to build large clouds to serve millions of people, but virtualisation isn’t just for sysadmins. It can be a powerful tool for anyone from public clouds to personal computers. You can use virtualisation to run multiple operating systems on a single computer or backup your computer as a virtual machine.
Many free training resources support the following job roles:
- Big Data Engineer
- Business Intelligence Analyst
- Artificial Intelligence Analyst
- Predictive Analytics Modeller
- Blockchain Developer
The raft of resources available to education in support of staff and students is significant. Industry has lined up to help academic institutions equip staff and students to meet the challenges of a digital world. Often however the stumbling point is a lack of awareness of these programs.
Institutions can be supported further to attract and retain higher student numbers and to develop strong and effective digital strategies; identify and procure the appropriate technologies and infrastructure to support those strategies; and ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to in turn support students.
Drive Digital Transformation with Clarity
Phoenix Software’s new Technology Asset Management (TAM) solution Clarity, can help you achieve your digital transformation goals as well as reduce your software spend.
Clarity is a bespoke managed programme designed to help deliver against your objectives and provide transparency and control of your software investment within the cloud.
No matter where you are in your digital transformation journey, Clarity can enable you to reach your goals and unlock potential.
READY TO LEARN MORE?
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us. For further information on the resources we can make available to you from our many partners; how we can help your leadership team develop and implement a digital strategy and how we can help you identify and implement key infrastructure changes in support of this strategy, talk to a member of the Education Team today on 01904 562200, email [email protected] or complete the form below:
HUBSPOT FORM HERE
Although every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy of the above article, Phoenix Software Ltd cannot be held responsible for any opinions or information provided therein and as such is not liable for any damages caused by a customer’s reliance upon this information.