Digital Futures Programme
Help shape the future of your workforce
The Digital Futures Programme has been created to help students develop the skills and knowledge needed to prepare for a career in the digital industries. On this programme students learn transferable engineering and IT skills that put them ahead of the competition when they are applying for jobs in these sectors. Employers working on the programme have found it to be hugely rewarding, both in terms of wellbeing, professional development and even recruiting apprentices.
what the programme is about
The Digital Futures Programme has been successfully running in our sister school UTC Heathrow since 2021.
The programme was conceived to help address the skills shortage in one of the world’s most booming sectors – digital infrastructure. We wanted to open a careers pathway up for our students by giving them the engineering knowledge they need to build a successful career in this sector, which is only set to grow and grow.
Working in collaboration with some of the data centre industry’s biggest companies, our Digital Futures Programme is a unique programme that embeds into our Engineering specialism. Students choosing this pathway will work on electrical and mechanical engineering modules with employers, learning transferrable skills that can be used in a number of technical careers.
These employers provide hands-on learning through lessons, workshops, projects, placements and challenge days, as well as working with the students on vital skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, leadership and communication.
how employers get involved
Staff commit 30 days per year to spend in school or with students delivering:Â
- ProjectsÂ
- MasterclassesÂ
- Challenge daysÂ
- Employability skills lessons and workshopsÂ
- Work placements (on site)Â
examples across our Trust
Project
UTC Heathrow BTEC Engineering students visited CyrusOne, seeing in practice engineering solutions they had worked on in school​Â
Masterclass
Students got an insight into the world of quantity surveying with a masterclass from Soben
Challenge day
Year 10 students spent the day creating a virtual data centre, learning vital engineering and teamwork skills with all our Digital Futures Programme employer partners​Â
Employability skills
VIRTUS led students in a variety of challenges designed to give them insights into the practical applications of teamwork in the professional world​ Â
Case studies
- Data centre LMG recruited three UTC Heathrow students in summer 2023 to their newly created degree apprenticeship programme. Read their stories here (click here)
- Team Building Day – problem solving and white water rafting with Kao Data​
- Data Centre Tours – CyrusOne, Kao Data​
- DCW 2023 incl. award​
- Data Cloud Awards, 2022, 2023​
Our Trust Partners
