IT Skills For The 21st Century

IT skills training is crucial to overcoming digital exclusion and building workforces that can contribute effectively to a global knowledge economy. Microsoft, working in collaboration with partners representing many sectors of society, aims to address the need by providing a learning continuum that is suitable for all citizens, whatever their age and existing skill level.

TUNIS, Tunisia — 16 Nov 2005 — “Information and communication technologies can significantly contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.” These are the words of Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, taken from his 2005 report In larger freedom. ICT is now recognised as a driver of social and economic development around the world, and emerging market economies have defined a technology-literate workforce as one of their primary requirements. Indeed, governments in both developed and developing countries realise that in order to participate fully in the global knowledge economy, they need to develop not only their physical ICT infrastructures but also the skills of their workforces.

Microsoft Corp, working with a wide range of other organisations, has committed to providing 250 million people worldwide with IT skills training and access to technology by 2010. This commitment is based on a belief that training people in IT is one of the best possible ways of building skills that have economic value to the communities and countries in which those people live. Such training also helps people to realise their potential at a personal level. Research shows clearly that IT skills enhance employment opportunities and help to secure larger salaries.

A Universal Need
Digital exclusion is a phenomenon often discussed in the context of developing nations, inner cities and remote rural areas, where people lack access to ICT because of economic or geographic factors. However, it applies equally to anyone who is not equipped to use technology. The need for training extends all the way from young children at school to older people who are made redundant and need to develop alternative skills.

According to Mark East, Microsoft’s senior education director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the solution to this need consists of a learning continuum of education programmes, enabling people at all stages of life to benefit from accessible, low-cost skills training.

“Our goal at Microsoft is to work with our partners to develop training that is suitable for everyone, regardless of age and existing skill level,” he says. “We want to provide all citizens with a clear learning pathway that they can step onto at any time in accordance with their needs and abilities.”

To deliver IT skills training, Microsoft partners with local and national governments, private companies, the education sector, voluntary organisations, local communities and others.

Says Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International, “Partnerships are essential in reaching out to people all over the world, and ICT education is an area where organisations can do a great deal more in collaboration, bringing their unique skills to the table.”

A Continuum of Learning Opportunities
A knowledge economy workforce is one in which all its members have basic IT skills, while future generations gain these skills as an integral part of their education. In addition, a proportion of the workforce will inevitably be more deeply involved with technology and will require more advanced IT skills. Thus the learning continuum can be divided into three broad categories:

Basic Skills for Today
In many parts of the world, a significant proportion of the adult workforce is economically inactive due to early retirement, redundancy, disability or unemployment. As national economies evolve and change, technology is very important in enabling these people to make a contribution. Microsoft’s most important initiative for this demographic is the Unlimited Potential programme, which supports community-based IT skills training for the underserved, including the unemployed, the elderly, people with disabilities and refugees. The programme, which offers a basic IT curriculum in 12 different languages, currently supports more than 500 projects in 95 countries. Through it, support has been provided for 20,000 community-based technology and learning centres.

Advanced Skills
IT skills training at an advanced level is of particular benefit to young people, some of whom will go into employment as IT professionals while others will make a start as business entrepreneurs. Microsoft’s IT Academy programme is a global IT training programme for academic institutions, including universities, colleges and high schools. It helps students follow academic IT courses and achieve certification in Microsoft technologies, thus accelerating their entry into the workforce or advancing their current careers. In addition, the IT Academy network supports institutions in expanding their community programmes for lifelong learning, thus helping them to play a broader role in providing IT skills to society at large. Other Microsoft initiatives in this area include Partner Academies and the Imagine Cup, an annual ICT competition for students all over the world.

Skills for the Next Generation
Working with governments, NGOs and educational organisations, Microsoft is engaged in a range of activities aimed at integrating IT skills within mainstream school curricula. For example, the Partners in Learning programme provides primary and secondary schools with software, IT lessons, refurbished PCs and training opportunities. As part of this programme, School Technology Innovation Centres are being set up in different countries as a source of information, training and equipment. To date, Microsoft has signed agreements with 99 countries and reached 8.3 million students through Partners in Learning.

Microsoft’s network of local IT Academies for Teacher Training helps schools provide teachers with leadership training, computer skills development, and assistance in bringing IT into the classroom. The Innovative Teachers Network programme supports the establishment of networks for the dissemination of information about how teachers use ICT to teach more effectively. In Africa, the African Pathfinder initiative provides a complete solution for bringing ICT into the classroom, covering training, tools and support as well as technology. Following exceptional success in Namibia, it has been adopted by 10 more African countries.

Beyond Training
Microsoft’s IT skills training programmes are supported in turn by other initiatives such as the Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher programme, which provides refurbished desktop technology for use in the developing world, and the Local Language Program, which facilitates software translation so that people can use technology in their own language.

Additional support is also available to help people capitalise on the training they receive and use it as a route to employment. In order to match training with local employers’ needs, Microsoft is forming partnerships with job centres, chambers of commerce, and federations of small businesses in many areas. The IT Academy network also supports educational institutions in tailoring their curricula to local industry needs, while the IT Academy Student Portal connects students with jobs and businesses with skilled workers. It is, of course, extremely important that those who have been trained are provided with certification that employers recognise and value. Microsoft’s skills training programmes provide recognised curricula and certification in national languages.

According to Elena Bonfiglioli, director of corporate citizenship at Microsoft EMEA, Microsoft’s skills development programmes have matured considerably over the past few years, to the point where company programmes now contribute to virtually every stage of the learning continuum. Nevertheless, this remains a very dynamic area. “We are working hard to expand our existing programmes, develop new initiatives, and establish new partnerships so that we can reach more and more people. By working closely with partners representing all sections of society, we can help to build skilled workforces that are equipped to contribute effectively to the 21st-century economy.”

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