• Swindon & Wiltshire Community champions
• Thursday May 25 2023
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Nationwide and Institute of Technology partner to deliver free digital courses

Swindon-headquartered building society Nationwide has partnered with Swindon and Wiltshire Institute of Technology to deliver a suite of free digital skills courses to help close the local and national digital skills gaps.

After conducting extensive research with employers and the local community, the team at the Swindon Institute of Technology, based at New College Swindon, identified a clear need for courses focusing on digital skills to help people prepare for the workplace and for local employers to give their employees the opportunity to upskill.

The free courses cover areas such as Digital Skills for Beginners, Basic Microsoft Applications and Staying Safe Online. The first learners on these courses graduated yesterday (Wednesday) and were presented with their certificates.

The courses are all taught face-to-face at the brand-new Swindon and Wiltshire Institute of Technology where learners have access to a range of IT facilities.

The team from Nationwide recently ran a workshop at the IoT on Staying Safe Online which helped learners to understand the challenges around scams and online banking.

Darran Marks, managing director of the Swindon and Wiltshire Institute of Technology, said: “We are extremely grateful to Nationwide for sponsoring these courses that enable anyone in our local community to come in, upskill and meet like-minded people.

“We have deliberately tailored the courses to address the skills gaps we are seeing in the local workforce and we are overjoyed at the commitment and outcomes for our graduates.”

Mark Bates, early careers manager at Nationwide, said: “As one of the anchor employers linked to the Swindon and Wiltshire IoT it has been a real pleasure to sponsor this ongoing suite of essential digital courses.

“As a mutual building society, it is important that we support our local community, whether it be through digital or financial education.

“The students I met in the Staying Safe Online session were engaged, knowledgeable and a testament to the quality of training provided over the rest of the course by the team at the IoT.”

Pictured: New College Swindon student, Esther Solomon, being presented with her certificate by Mark Bates, early careers manager at Nationwide