The Activate Learning Education Trust (ALET) will be expanding its Digital Futures Programme to three additional locations.

The programme, which offers the UK’s first data centre focused curriculum, was launched at UTC Heathrow in 2021. The programme is aimed at 14-19-year-olds, and contributes to a BTEC Level 3 National Diploma/Extended Diploma in Engineering (NQF). It has been designed by industry employers to equip students with the skills needed for technical careers in the digital infrastructure industry.

Activate Learning Education Trust (ALET), which incorporates UTC Heathrow, will be launching the Digital Futures Programme in three more of its UTCs: UTC Reading, UTC Oxfordshire and UTC Swindon. Each location will be able to accept 150 students per year onto the programme.

The expansion plans were announced at an event attended by nine of the employer partners; Amazon Web Services, ARK Data Centres, CBRE, CNet Training, CyrusOne, Digital Realty, LMG, Virtus Data Centres and Yondr – at UTC Reading on Friday 26 January. These nine employer partners have committed to supporting all ALET UTCs that will be delivering the Digital Futures Programme and will be known as ALET Trust Partners.

The programme partners provide financial support to the initiative as well as helping to develop the curriculum. Partners deliver a mix of employer-led projects, challenge days, masterclasses and skills workshops to the students as part of the programme.

“The UK is facing an unprecedented skills shortage: we need engineers, computer scientists and other digitally-skilled staff,” said Jo Harper, CEO of ALET.  

“The Digital Futures Programme is focused on equipping students with the skills to succeed in the digital industries, bringing together companies which are serious about acting to address the skills shortage with STEM-focused schools with specialisms in digital, engineering and science prepared to forge a new path for their students.”