Digital Business Academy
Digital technology is rapidly on the rise and there are more jobs to fill for data scientists, web developers, coders and online marketers. However, the trend is still new judging by the fact that such professions only gained prominence in the 21st century after the emergence of companies based solely on websites that make up billions of pounds after annual reports. Unlike in the 20th century when most people needed a physical office to co-ordinate their operations, nowadays any person can conduct his/her legit business on a tablet, laptop or even a smart-phone. It is because of such reasons that the UK government has started the Digital Business Academy to educate people on how to successfully run a business on digital platforms.
The Digital Business Academy, which is the first of its kind initiative worldwide funded by a government, is a result of a partnership by Tech City UK and University College London. The academy is set to offer relevant courses on how to manage a digital business and progressively decrease the unemployment rate in Britain. According to a recent report, Britain requires at least 750,000 additional people equipped with digital skills to fill the job market in the next four years in order to grow the UK economy exponentially. Further, the private industry is in need of more digital professionals, hence a third of the all the jobs created in the United Kingdom in the past three years concern digital businesses.
The courses offered in the Digital Business Academy program are accessed through Founder Centric, Cambridge Judge Business School and UCL. The program can be undertaken online by any British citizen and the 8 main courses include; Business Master Finance, Developing and Managing a Digital Product, Building a Brand, Sizing an Idea, Understanding Digital Marketing Channels, Turning an idea into a Digital Business, Running a Digital Marketing Campaign and Making a Marketing Plan. After completing the courses, participants are awarded a digital certificate and digital badge.
Further, the UK government has partnered with other brands which have had successful business campaigns on their digital platforms. Some of the brands that have endorsed the Digital Business Academy program include; BBC, Microsoft Ventures, O2 Think Big, Ogilvy Labs, Unruly, Creative England, Smarta, Twitter, AMD and Welsh Innovation Centre for Enterprise. Applicants of the academy can apply to the program partners in order to receive benefits such as free start up support, paid internship, free mentorship and further training. Get more information about digital entrepreneurship at Joanna Shields news.
The British government is willing to invest about 40,000 pounds into the program annually which will eventually evolve based on the graduates’ feedback. Enrolling into the academy is absolutely free as long as one is a citizen of the United Kingdom. In fact, the Academy recorded over 1,000 registrations some weeks before the operation was officially launched. Further, the program does not require any pre-qualifications as long as one knows how to read and write which sums to a majority of the population. Depending on the mode of study, each course takes about 3 to 6 weeks to complete. Participants can acquire the necessary skills through video lectures, practical exercises and reading assignments.
