Digital Apprentices Are the Future, Says Skills Minister
London, UK (PRWEB UK) 31 January 2014 -- “Digital Apprenticeships embody the future of skills development,” Skills Minister Matthew Hancock told an audience of graduating apprentices.
Speaking on Monday night at the inaugural graduation event for Agilisys Arch’s Digital Marketing and IT Apprenticeship programme, Matthew Hancock MP, Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise, told the audience of 40 graduating apprentices and their guests that their achievements represented the best of what apprenticeships can be in the twenty first century.
The Minister, who was the guest of honour at the event organised by Arch and hosted by Google in their central London offices, told the apprentices, “The UK is a global leader in the digital economy. These Apprenticeships bring the best of cutting edge digital skills together with an industry recognised Apprenticeship. The skills and experience that you have gained through your apprenticeship with Arch are a crucial part of that story.”
The apprentices achieved their apprenticeships working for over 20 employers, from small start-ups to major corporations, including Google, whose first ten apprentices anywhere in the world were in the audience last night. The apprenticeships involve a full time paid job, on-the-job training from colleagues, expert assessment and tuition from industry experts and the completion of a Level 3 diploma.
Dan Cobley, MD for Google UK and Ireland, also addressed the audience and said, “While the UK is already the number 1 country in the world for e-commerce, we need to make sure we have enough skilled young people coming into the sector. Our involvement in the programme has opened our eyes to how much young people can add to agencies and advertisers alike.”
Jasmine Amin, one of the apprentices graduating, said, “It’s been such a lovely evening, a chance to step back and celebrate what we’ve achieved. It’s been hard work, but I’ve now got a full time job that I’m really enjoying and I’ve learned so much too.”
Ben Rowland, host for the evening and co-founder of Arch said, “It is just fantastic to see our first apprentices celebrating their hard work and achievements. They’ve made a real difference to their employers and have grown as young professionals so much since we first met them. Tonight has been a lovely – and well deserved – celebration.”
Arch is currently working with over 70 employers to place Digital and IT apprentices and in total has started over 200 young people as apprentices since its launch in August 2012.
Ben Rowland, Agilisys Arch, http://www.archapprentices.co.uk, +44 7787510178, [email protected]
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