The Open University (OU) is celebrating its partnership with the Institute of Coding (IoC), created in January 2018.
In just 12 months, IoC partners have successfully signed-up over 5,000 people onto its leading tech courses at universities across the country.
To date a total of 5,875 people enrolled onto courses, with 175 staff members employed across the IoC university network to drive recruitment and take-up of key courses.
Hackathons to degrees are part of IoC portfolio
Since its formal launch at the House of Lords in June 2018, there have been 35 IoC supported courses created so far, which includes degrees, modules and hackathons. The courses include Data Science MsC at Birkbeck College and the first master’s level Digital Degree Apprenticeship at the University of Bath.
As well developing new courses, the IoC have appointed 51 people who represent industry, academia and diversity to sit on various IoC boards and steer the work. An Institute of Coding was also set up in Wales in 2018.
Under the Future Projects Fund, funded by the Office for Students, the IoC will soon allocate £2.3million to further proposals from industry and academia to help fill the digital skills gap and support the work of the IoC.
Institute of Coding marks start of a “revolution” in computing
The OU’s IoC project lead, Professor John Domingue, said:
After our first year of intense activity it is clear to us that we are at the start of an IoC based computing education revolution. With continued hard work and collaboration with all our university and corporate partners we will develop a framework facilitating seamless learning journeys.
He said IoC learning will cross a wide range of industrial work settings, free and online contexts, and standard university courses and will be inclusive to learners of all backgrounds and previous employment and learning achievements:
The whole OU team is eager to continue to bring our wealth of expertise and experience in learning delivery and innovation at scale and within within diverse contexts to the whole of UK computing teaching through the IoC.
Rachid Hourizi, Director of the Institute of Coding comments:
The Institute of Coding is dedicated to driving digital skills and widening access to high quality learning to thousands of people from all walks of life. After a year of hard work and determination, we’ve made huge progress in tackling the skills shortfall, but there is still much more to do.
It’s vital that industry works closer with the IoC and our academic partners to design and build new courses for graduates and existing employees, spreading opportunity and upskilling workforces across the country.
The Institute of Coding is a consortium of universities and employers, with a mission to develop the next generation of digital talent at degree level and above. The IoC will develop higher-level digital skills capabilities among those already in work as well as improve graduate employability.
Its goals include developing specialist skills training in areas of strategic importance, boosting equality and diversity in technology-related education and careers and producing research, analysis and intelligence to anticipate future skills gaps.
