Skills Bootcamps celebrate two year anniversary
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Bath Spa University’s free Skills Bootcamps celebrate their two year anniversary
Friday, 8 December, 2023Bath Spa University is celebrating the two year anniversary of its successful Skills Bootcamps programme.
Skills Bootcamps are fully funded courses of up to 16 weeks, giving adult learners the opportunity to retrain, pursue a career in a new field or start their own business. Since the launch of the very first course in digital marketing, Bath Spa has run short courses in eleven different subjects and helped over 800 learners improve their digital skills and take the next step on their career journey.
The courses have been developed by the Government as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Plan for Jobs, in partnership with employers, providers, and local authorities.
Dr Anna Walker, Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor Business Development at Bath Spa University, commented:
“Skills Bootcamps are fundamental to building confidence and supporting people to progress in their careers, to enter a new career path or to build their own business. We're so proud to have supported hundreds of people to pursue their creativity and curiosity in this way. We’re honoured to have been finalists at the 2023 Creative Bath Awards and the Social Enterprise Awards in recognition of this work.”
Over the past two years Bath Spa have worked with companies including Unite Students, The Data Place, Naturally Social and TA Education to provide learners with lectures from industry experts, job interviews and in-person workshops to further improve their sector knowledge.
Vicky McIntyre, Senior UX/UI Designer at Unite Students, said:
“Working with the team at Bath Spa University has been a pleasure. To date we have run two workshops with the Skills Bootcamp in Creative Computing: UI/UX Design. The days consisted of mock interviews, design tasks and Q and As about working in the UX industry.
Having the students of the short course deliberate and conceptualise digital products was a great way to get insight from a diverse group of people. It was a productive experience for both the students and Unite Students. We were able to get a fresh viewpoint on how to enhance the user experience on our App products, whilst the students had the opportunity to put into practice all the learnings from their Skills Bootcamp.”
Georgine Tucker, Senior Graphic Designer at Transform Digital, added:
“As a Bath Spa University graduate, working with the Skills Bootcamps has been a great opportunity to support students in the same way other professionals did for me while studying. I always enjoyed professional lectures, as the insight they gave made the transition into the workplace far less intimidating.
Hopefully we’ve helped inspire the next wave of designers to design more accessible and creative websites. It’s motivated our whole team to support more outreach programmes too: four people hosting webinars, two conducting mock interviews, three work experience students, and another digital apprentice joining us in the coming months.”
Emma Millington, Head of Customer Relations at Modular, said:
“Working with the Skills Bootcamps has been a wonderful way to share our knowledge and experience around human centered design and marketing and to provide advice on what it is like to work in the sector. At Modular, helping others is a large part of what we do. The team has been great to work with. We’ve made some fantastic contacts both on the Skills Bootcamp team and with students. Forged connections that will last for many years. Being part of such an impactful programme has been truly rewarding and we hope to continue our relationship and support in the future.”
Since the launch of the Skills Bootcamps, Bath Spa has targeted further skills gaps identified within the West of England and run courses in data science, digital skills for education staff, net zero and cyber security. Following the success of the previous courses, Bath Spa has secured funding for new Skills Bootcamps in Agile Project Management, Data Analytics and Machine Learning and UX/UI Design.
Bath Spa University has also expanded its range of short courses to include Click Start, FWD and a variety of self-funded short courses designed to help learners expand their portfolio of skills.
In addition to providing learners with sector-specific skills, Bath Spa University’s Skills Bootcamps equip learners with the confidence and skills needed to excel in interviews, apply for jobs and set up their own business in their chosen sector. 70% of Skills Bootcamp learners have secured an interview following their course, and a further 25% of those have secured work in their chosen sector.
For the past five years Adam Wozniak has been working as a freelance motion graphics designer. With the help of Bath Spa’s Skills Bootcamp in Web Development, he has started a three month internship as a Front End Developer Intern.
When asked about the course, Adam said:
“After the course finished my tutors continued to support me with employment advice and helped me refine my CV. I also attended a mock interview and technical test event with Gradcore, which resulted in me getting this internship.”
Applications for these Skills Bootcamps are currently open. Applicants must live in or near Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Bristol or South Gloucestershire and be over 19.
Find out more information and apply on the Bath Spa University website.