Engaging education and youth on ICT careers

Our pledge

The objective of this pledge is to increase the digital skills and knowledge of students, young people, as well as offer career guidance for professionals, and making them all aware of the different career paths available.

Our initiatives

 The following initiatives will be undertaken as part of this pledge: 

1. Summer bootcamp | The objective of this pledge is to introduce and expand coding knowledge for young people and students. The summer bootcamp will provide career advice, teach coding for beginners and help improve and upskill existing coding competences. Furthermore, it will introduce emerging technologies, the latest digital tools, their applicability and data integration to the target group. Summer training courses will take place between July and September 2020. 
2. Student visits to industry | Selected secondary school students, that have Computer Science as one of the optional subjects and are considering a career in ICT sector, will have a chance to visit ICT sector companies. They will learn more about potential ICT careers and meet workers to find out about their day-to-day work. Students will be encouraged to familiarize themselves with the company prior to visiting them. 
3. Digigirls  The foundation, in collaboration with Microsoft, has set out to target gender balance and inclusion in ICT sector. The objective is to organize an awareness raising event that will provide secondary school girls with a better understanding of what a career in ICT is all about. The envisioned event will allow students to interact with Microsoft and other partner companies to gain industry exposure and familiarise themselves with the latest technology. The end goal is to spark creativity, generate excitement and provide positive encouragement with hands-on workshops to inspire girls to an ICT career.  
4. Sessions to Career Guidance Teachers | The objective of this initiative is to raise awareness for career advisors in schools about the latest developments in ICT, emerging technologies, new and future career roles, and the required competences to succeed in an ICT job. The awareness raising events will take place in schools and will help career advisors pass on this knowledge to students and provide better guidance.