IT professionals from the UK’s largest energy companies are among a talented group of future leaders commencing a new industry-designed postgraduate programme at Lancaster University Management School this week.
Centrica and National Grid are the first in their sector to place IT professionals on the e-skills Professional Programme, designed by e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for Business and IT, in conjunction with leading employers. The programme aims to fast track new professionals into highly skilled IT roles.
Deriving business benefit from technology
Centrica Head of IS Graduate Programme Jim Heard says: “The e-skills Professional Programme is a key part of our graduate programme which will benefit our business in a number of ways. It will enable our professionals to better appreciate the contribution technology can make to achieving business goals, and to understand the value and importance of robust business cases to support IT change.”
e-skills UK Chief Executive Karen Price says: “Globalisation has meant new IT professionals must progress rapidly to higher level roles without access to the traditional 'entry level' jobs which have now moved offshore.
“Of the 110,000 new IT professionals needed each year, two thirds must enter directly into managerial and highly skilled professional roles , so it is critical that we work with employers and academia to meet this demand. By accelerating the business contribution of professionals in the early years of their careers, the e-skills Professional Programme addresses this challenge faced by many of the UK’s employers.”
Accelerating development into highly skilled roles
National Grid Global IS Programme Director Derek Parsons adds: “The e-skills Professional Programme will accelerate our IT professionals’ development into more highly skilled roles by providing them with industry-recognised academic learning that is immediately applicable to the workplace.”
Energy and Utility Skills Chief Executive Tim Balcon endorses the work that e-skills UK is doing to support the IT needs of the Energy and Utilities sector: “New technologies have transformed the sector, creating a demand for highly-skilled business IT professionals. Programmes like this will help address short term IT skills shortages, as well as creating future leaders for our sector. We are very pleased to be able to work with e-skills UK to promote this programme more widely amongst our employers.”
Employer designed qualification
Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) Professor Steve Bradley says: “Now in its second year at Lancaster University Management School, we see the e-skills Professional Programme as an innovative, employer-designed qualification which offers employers and students the benefits of high quality education that is not only directly relevant to their individual workplaces, but to the wider IT sector .”
The e-skills Professional Programme is being delivered by Lancaster University Management School and the Open University. It is open to anyone in work and ideally suited to people who are recent entrants to an IT professional role from any background.
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