New WCG initiative provides fully-funded digital training for businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire

WCG (Warwickshire College Group) has recently launched the Centre for Digital and Cyber Skills, a new specialist skills centre designed to provide businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire with funded digital training for their employees.

One of the core strategic pillars identified in the CW LEP Strategic Economic Plan 2016 was the need to enhance the digital skills of employees as a way of encouraging productivity and growth within the region, particularly in sectors such as Digital and Creative industries, advanced manufacturing and engineering, professional and financial services, and logistics.

As a key CW LEP partner and training provider, WCG has created a selection of short courses designed specifically to meet those needs. With funding for the Centre for Digital and Cyber Skills being provided by WCG and the European Social Fund, these courses are being offered free to eligible businesses, and are being offered at Rugby College, Royal Leamington Spa College, and Warwick Trident College.

Courses coming up this Spring include:

• Cyber security awareness
• MS Office packages
• Computer Aided Design
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Google Drive fundamentals
• Business improvement techniques
• CNC manufacturing

For employees to qualify for free training, they must be working in roles for which digital skills are a requirement, and either work or live in the Coventry and Warwickshire area.

Hayley Lineker, who is leading the Centre for Digital & Cyber Skills, explained that the short courses offered by the centre have been designed to benefit employees working in a variety of roles across these two key sectors.

She said: “With technology and tourism driving growth in the region, it’s crucial that businesses with digital and service skills needs have access to free training for their employees.

“There is a strong, growing digital landscape here in Coventry and Warwickshire, but digital skills gaps exist in every sector, and our courses are intended for anyone who has a digital skills requirement in their role.”

To browse available courses and find out if you or your employees are eligible, please visit www.wcg.ac.uk/digital-skills-training To book onto a course or for more information, please call 0330 135 6008 or email [email protected]

WCG is one of the largest general further and higher education college groups in the UK, providing high quality education and training for individuals and organisations at a local, regional, national and international level. The group has seven colleges – Royal Leamington Spa, Rugby, Moreton Morrell, Pershore, Evesham, Malvern Hills and Warwick Trident, with over 17,000 students and more than 1,000 courses. WCG works in partnership with a large number of local and national employers across industry and is the largest college provider of apprenticeship training in the region, with over 2,000 apprentices trained every year.