Economy Minister Diane Dodds with Belfast Met Principal and Chief Executive Louise Warde Hunter launching the Digital Futures training programme, led by Belfast Met and delivered in partnership with SERC, SRC and SWC.

Belfast Met has announced that it is leading on a new Digital Futures initiative, in partnership with three other further education colleges: SERC, SRC and SWC. Digital Futures is funded by the Department for the Economy and will offer graduates an opportunity to gain the skills and qualifications to enable them to pursue a career within the IT sector. Digital Futures was developed with the Belfast City Regional Deal partnership as a response to the challenges posed by Covid-19 and the need to support people impacted due to the ongoing pandemic, and recognising the need to invest in skills to support the growth of the IT sector in NI.

The Digital Futures courses offer great career opportunities to graduates in the fast-growing local IT sector, with training available across a range of technologies. There are 55 places for graduates across the three strands of Digital Futures in Cloud, Data Analytics and Cyber. Digital Futures graduates will gain industry-recognised qualifications and the offer of a placement to apply their newly developed skills and knowledge, as well as a weekly training allowance of £150 per week.

The Digital Futures courses are approximately ten-week intensive training programme, followed by a ten-week placement opportunity with a local IT or technology company. No previous experience or IT is needed but applicants must be at least 18 years old, be eligible to work in the UK and have a degree in any discipline.

Belfast Met is delighted to be delivering the Digital Futures Cloud course. The course will commence on Monday 9th November 2020 to Friday 29th January 2021, (10 weeks which includes a two-week break from 21st December to 1st January 2021).

For more information on all three courses go to www.belfastmet.ac.uk/support-for-business/digital-futures

For further information contact dscott@serc.ac.uk  or moorheads@src.ac.uk

For further information on Digital Futures please email digitalfutures@belfastmet.ac.uk