It was officially opened today by Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership (GLLEP) Chair, Ursula Lidbetter, who was joined by college and stakeholder representatives, along with local business leaders.
The opening comes just weeks after Lincoln College Group secured a provisional allocation of £2.3m from the GLLEP to develop a Digital and Professional skills Centre in Lincoln.
Once complete, this will house the Digital Academy and also provide high tech training for the engineering, manufacturing and healthcare sectors.
Lincoln College Group CEO Gary Headland said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for local employers to upskill their existing staff and take on new digitally aware employees to innovate and grow their businesses.
“Our network of more than 1,000 local firms across all sectors has been telling us for some time that digitisation and automation of processes is resulting in critical skills shortages in IT, software development, cyber and digital marketing.
“This Academy is just the start of our Digital Transformation Programme, which will see us develop a Digital and Professional Skills Centre in Lincoln, with bespoke facilities across the county and abroad. A similar facility based in Riyadh will even provide the opportunity for our higher education engineering lecturers abroad to share their expertise back here in Lincolnshire.
“We would encourage all firms who are experiencing skills shortages in these areas and people looking for secure, lucrative and exciting careers in digital to get in touch with us.”
Developed in partnership with risual Education, a Microsoft gold partner, the Academy will be the only one of its kind in Greater Lincolnshire.
The apprenticeships will be flexibly designed to meet employers’ needs and linked to industry recognised vendor qualifications (Microsoft MOS, MTA, MCP).
As part of the partnership an Azure-focused apprenticeship will also be offered to support companies to become proficient in cloud technology.
Risual Director of Education Tina Jones said: “We are very excited to be working with Lincoln College Group in the Greater Lincolnshire LEP area. This is a progressive college group doing fantastic training across a number of key growth sectors in the local economy. Their commitment to now driving IT skills growth within the LEP is exceptional.”
Businesses interested in digital apprenticeship training can call our apprenticeship sales team on: 0845 270 7227
Or click here for more information
Want to become a digital apprentice? To find out more about our exciting digital apprenticeship career opportunities click here.
Or call our student information officers on:030 030 32435
