The City of Liverpool College has become the first in the world to be granted official Microsoft “Associate College” status after partnering with the Redmond giant to use its technology to build the classroom of the future. According to a report from The Liverpool Echo, the college will be using smart sensors, Microsoft Azure and Surface devices such as the Surface Hub to improve teaching conditions as well as the staff’s operations.
Alasdair Redmond, the college’s chief information officer, explained that this partnership will allow students to gain top-level IT skills that will make it easier for them to get their first job:
Microsoft Associate College status means we can access the very best thinking, software and equipment to meet the challenges and opportunities of next generation learning. It’s partly about ensuring our teachers and students are as highly skilled as possible in working life, but it’s also about creating genuinely innovative approaches to learning so that the students digital journey is constantly improving their learning experience and the relevance of their skills to employers.
Building the digital skill-base in the UK economy – and in the Liverpool City Region economy – is an absolute imperative for economic growth and business growth. It isn’t just that the number of digital businesses out there is increasing; it’s that all businesses, of all kinds, will be underpinned by digital skills in the future. They are therefore a key enabler for growth in every sector and in every kind of business.
Microsoft’s UK Manager for Further Education and Skills Mike Morris echoed his sentiment: “Increasingly digital skills are starting to include coding and creation of IT and that’s really important for the development of the right skills needed to work in the new economy,” he explained. The exec also added that twenty other UK colleges will also get the “Microsoft” status by this time next year.
Do you think these partnerships can help students develop their digital skills and ultimately improve their employability? Let us know what you think in the comments.
