Addressing the digital skills gap

The digital economy is booming, but 75% of UK companies report a digital skills gap in their workforce. Industry-specific degree courses are helping to address the issue.

The digital skills gap means that organisations lack the literacy to meet the technological demands of doing business in the modern global marketplace.

It’s a problem costing the UK economy around £63bn a year in lost income — so upskilling is essential to sustain growth and remain competitive.

Digital skills have become as essential to employability as basic English and maths. But they’re in short supply in the workplace.

Addressing the digital crisis

At Anglia Ruskin, we’re committed to helping address the digital skills gap by providing industry-specific degree apprenticeship courses in Digital Technology Solutions and Digital Marketing.

Digital Technology

Our Digital Technology Solutions BSc provides students with the specialist skillset required for careers in software engineering, network engineering and cyber security analysis.

42% of employers in the sector report that many current applicants lack the expertise to fill roles in such areas, and more than one million new recruits will be needed in the specialist digital workforce by 2023.

Industry insiders like Chris Lamrou from Redgate Software are embracing the scheme’s potential to sharpen their competitive edge, saying:

With more employers looking for recruits with broad digital skillsets, tech apprenticeships produce workers that are made to fit into the landscape of today, and broaden their skills to suit the technological developments of tomorrow.

Digital Marketing

Set to launch soon, our Digital Marketing degree apprenticeship covers topics such as social media marketing, data and analytics, search engine optimisation and content planning.

So it’s the ideal choice for students looking to acquire the broad suite of skills needed to work as a marketer or content developer for digital marketing agencies, or in-house for big commercial brands or SMEs.

The Digital Marketing Institute recently reported that only 38% of professional marketers had entry-level digital marketing skills in the UK, US and Irish sectors, so the demand for qualified experts is clear.

By offering students the opportunity to gain valuable skills in these two essential strands of the digital economy, Anglia Ruskin is helping to train the next generation of tech-savvy professionals.

Futureproof your business

Digital apprentices have been proven to provide businesses with a high-quality workforce that boosts productivity.

The growth and development employees gain through their studies can also help firms retain their best and brightest. If you want to capitalise on the potential of the digital economy, degree apprenticeships could be the ideal opportunity to futureproof your business.

Next steps

So what steps do you need to take when considering an apprenticeship scheme? Start by reading more about how the Apprenticeship Levy will work for your business.

By Suparna Ghose
Learning and Development Services

Degree apprenticeships at ARU

Take a look at how degree apprenticeships can benefit your business – and get in touch with our Degrees at Work team for more information.