The Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education (AGFE) and Udacity are partnering to launch TechUp, an employment learning pathway that provides young people with foundational digital literacy skills and highly specialised market-driven technical degrees to close the digital skills gap.
TechUp will integrate the role of the private sector in upskilling the workforce and push the boundaries of future education to enhance Emirati talent.
The programme is one of the unique learning pathways created under AGFE’s recently launched NOMU initiative, which aims to upskill 25,000 Emirati youth by 2025.
According to sources from the region, the current UAE workforce has an average of 10 percent to 29 percent fluency in data and programming skills.
There is an urgent need to address the skills gap as most of the emerging jobs in the UAE require these highly specialised market driven skills.
With the objective of shifting towards promoting local talent in the workplace, this initiative will equip young people with the information, skills, and tools needed for success through quality training opportunities, online and offline.
The partnership will target national university students, recent graduates, residents across all the emirates, people of determination, and those at risk of losing their jobs due to automation, by providing them with the opportunity to enroll in nano-degree programmes co-developed by some of the world’s best global companies such as Google, Amazon, BMW and more.
Training and upskilling the Emirati workforce of the future
AGFE and Udacity will work together to crack the ‘train-to-hire’ code in the UAE and provide upskilling opportunities to ease the integration of Emirati youth into the workforce, especially within the private sector.
The collaboration aims to train Emirati youth in leading global and local industry priority areas within an inclusive community of more than 20,000 learners that will lead the UAE’s digital future.
With more than 2,000 projects specifically designed by industry leaders, TechUp will focus on three main areas: user design and research; agility and agile frameworks; as well as data analysis and data visualisation with Power BI.
By narrowing the digital gap, the programme will help Emirati youth, who are either unemployed, under-employed, or at risk of losing their jobs, to contribute to the country’s gig economy.
Commenting on the programme, the CEO of AGFE, Dr Sonia Ben Jaafar, said: “Through our work and partnerships at AGFE, we are relentless in our pursuit of providing quality education that elevates livelihoods. By driving sustainable progress in upskilling our young people, we are investing in the future, one which places Emiratis at the nexus of opportunity.
“Our collaboration with Udacity is informed by what we could see as a key need for a growing economy, the need to bridge the employability gap. We are delighted to launch this program with a partner who shares our purpose to empower youth to thrive and contribute to the development of our nation.”
The CEO of Udacity, Gabriel Dalporto, said: “The lack of digital talent globally is an existential threat to all nations and businesses. It is imperative that foundations like AGFE and private sectors work together to close the digital talent gap by investing in talent transformation. This partnership is an opportunity for Emirati youth to gain a competitive advantage for the workforce of tomorrow.”
The Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education launched NOMU, the multi-sector partnership initiative earlier this year to offer high quality learning opportunities that are tied to UAE priority sectors in the nation’s sustainability strategy.
NOMU focuses on preparing youth with the information, skills and tools needed for success in a digital, knowledge-based economy and compete in the global labor market for the jobs of tomorrow.
Students that are interested in enrolling in the program can sign up on the TechUp website starting 15 March 2022.
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