We are delighted to welcome Digital Realty to our unique education/industry partnership, the Digital Futures Programme.
Digital Realty joins eight leading employers from the digital infrastructure sector as a trust partner on the Digital Futures Programme, which contributes to a BTEC Level 3 National Diploma / Extended Diploma in Engineering (NQF).
Digital Realty joins the programme at an exciting time, as it expands to three other schools in our trust – UTC Reading, UTC Swindon and UTC Oxfordshire.
The DFP has received industry acclaim, recognised with three global awards and has been nominated for the second consecutive year for Best Talent Developer as part of the Data Centre World Awards in March, which it won in 2023.
As part of the programme, Digital Realty staff will work with students to deliver a mix of employer-led projects, challenge days, masterclasses and skills workshops. Previous employers working on the programme have found it to be hugely rewarding, both in terms of wellbeing, professional development and even recruiting apprentices – our first graduates from UTC Heathrow took up freshly created apprenticeship positions last year, which is a major boost to the industry, which is working to attract new talent.
Richard Oosterom, Director of Operations, UK & Ireland, Digital Realty said: “At Digital Realty we are very excited to be taking part in this initiative. We see it as a way to contribute to the education of our current generation, to promote the data centre sector, which is increasingly important for the digital economy, and as a source of development for our staff. It’s a win-win for all.”
Mike Halliday, Head of Employer Engagement at ALET: “ALET is playing a critical part in building a skills pipeline essential to the UK economy to be competitive in the digital world. The Digital Futures Programme represents a unique opportunity for industry to be engaged at a programmatic level to transform the lives of younger people.”
Jo Harper, CEO of ALET: “The UK is facing an unprecedented skills shortage: we need engineers, computer scientists and other digitally-skilled staff. The Digital Futures Programme is focused on equipping students with the skills to succeed in the digital industries, bringing together companies which are serious about acting to address the skills shortage with STEM-focused schools with specialisms in digital, engineering and science prepared to forge a new path for their students.”
- Digital Futures Programme Trust Partners are: Amazon Web Services, ARK Data Centres, CBRE, CNet Training, CyrusOne, Digital Realty, LMG, Virtus Data Centres and Yondr.
