About

The mission of e-skills UK is to ensure that the UK has the technology skills it needs to succeed in the global economy. Not just for today, but for the next decade and beyond.

This includes the skills needs of the 1.4 million people in the IT and Telecoms workforce as well as the technology-related skills needs of 4 million business leaders and managers and the 21.5 million IT users across all sectors.

Our work is currently focused on four key objectives as outlined in our Sector Skills Agreement for IT:

• Inform – ensuring that employers, education and government have access to world class market intelligence to support decision making and investment.
• Inspire – improving the image and attractiveness of technology careers.
• Educate – helping to prepare young people for successful careers and lives in an increasingly technology-enabled world.
• Professionalise – supporting employers to develop a world class workforce.

Examples of our work includes the following:

• e-skills UK's award-winning Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4G) programme, which introduces 10-14 year old girls to IT through creative and interactive activities, is transforming the attitudes of a generation of girls to technology. More than 120,000 girls in over 3,500 schools are already benefiting from CC4G.  
  www.e-skills.com/cc4g.
• The new Diploma in IT for 14-19 year olds will combine practical and theoretical education and focus on technology in the context of business, individuals and society.  Its innovative approach will transform technology-related learning for young people and prepare them with the skills employers need.  From September 2008, thousands of students will be studying towards a Diploma in IT.  www.e-skills.com/diploma.
• e-skills UK's employer-backed Information Technology Management for Business ( ITMB ) degrees focus on the development of business, technical, project management and communications skills.  The degree is now running at 13 universities with application numbers up to four times that for traditional computing degrees..  www.e-skills.com/itmb.
• e-skills UK is working with employers, Higher Education and training providers to create an innovative professional development programme for new IT professional.  The programme's content will reflect the industry-endorsed IT Professional Competency Model - e-skills PROCOM, which has been developed with input from more than 200 employers.  www.e-skills.com/itpdp.
• e-skills UK's Business IT Guide is a free, online service that helps managers and leaders of smaller companies to make the most of technology for business success. The Guide is already available through regional development agencies in five English regions, with other regions and nations to follow.  www.e-skills.com/businessitguide.