Digital technologies and innovation have become critical to support a growing Scottish economy, however an increased demand for IT, data science and technical skillsets is fast outstripping the nation’s supply.

Many organisations are now experiencing a technology skills gap between young people emerging from education and fulfilling the needs of employers. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is working to address this issue by supporting the younger workforce with one clear aim: to inspire a generation of students and school leavers into successful technology careers.

The Digital Explorers programme for secondary school students
For nearly forty years, TCS has partnered with Scotland’s leading businesses to support their technology and digital transformation journeys. TCS has developed and delivered its own work experience programme called Digital Explorers, focusing on the education of secondary school students considering their future career options.

The Digital Explorers program has been running in Edinburgh since 2018, exploring topics such as Coding, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), soft skills and workforce insights, through a series of practical, interactive activities.

Students are supported throughout by TCS and Client volunteers, who provide insights and feedback based on their workplace experiences. Q&A panels allow students from diverse backgrounds across Scotland to ask questions of industry experts and discuss career options, with more than 1,000 students aged between 14–16 taking part.

Since 2020, Digital Explorers has been held online, so students can virtually participate in activities and join panel sessions with experts from home or the classroom.

Girls in Digital empowers women to pursue STEM careers

In parallel, TCS has run smaller STEM events across secondary schools in Scotland, and in 2019, the ‘Girls in Digital’ programme was launched to empower young women in pursuing a career in STEM, supporting the Scottish Government’s work to address the underrepresentation of women in the field.

Girls in Digital reached nearly 1,300 female students in Scotland, and the events were attended by nearly 1,900 students from the Central Belt, North Berwick and Fife.

goIT – a hybrid learning programme for teachers and students

To expand its CSR programmes, TCS also launched an initiative called goIT, which provides free training and resource packs for school teachers to deliver the programme in the classroom or online, at a time and pace that supports their curriculum.

Students learn how computer science skills are relevant for many career paths and cover topics such as design thinking, problem solving, storyboarding, presentation skills, and the stereotypes or myths about careers in technology.

GoIT provides approximately 20 hours of learning time to explain how computer science can be used to tackle problems in the local community, linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Students work in teams to create an app or an AI concept that supports their ideas, and pitch their concept to a panel of judges made of industry experts. Throughout the programme, TCS volunteers and partners provide the vital connection between education and the workplace, engaging with the students via feedback and Q&A sessions to support their progress and share insights into real life job roles.

The programme’s format allows teacher training and volunteer activity, including the final event, to take place either in-person or online, giving TCS an opportunity to reach schools in more remote or rural areas of Scotland.

Although the programme is aimed towards engaging younger secondary school students’ interest in computer science, the resources allow teachers to tailor the programme to target younger students in P6/7, or older students as an extra-curricular activity. TCS can also lead introductory workshops or competitions across individual or groups of schools during relevant times in the school calendar.

TCS also runs a monthly online goIT challenge, for individuals or teams of students to submit a video showcasing an innovative idea to tackle an environmental problem related to the SDGs and hosted by a different country each month. Back in April, the UK hosted the challenge and partnered with Edinburgh Remakery who submitted a problem statement of how to reduce e-waste. Winners have their videos posted on TCS.com, the global goIT website and partner organisations’ social channels.

Developing the Young Workforce

For many years TCS has been supported in Scotland by Developing the Young Workforce (DYW), offering advice and direct connections with schools to promote TCS programmes, as well as identifying activities to continue to bridge the link between education and industry, such as offering support to a local authority’s plans to implement a Foundation Apprenticeship in IT.

TCS and DYW are currently working together to roll out goIT across schools in Scotland, with the support of DYW’s school co-ordinators, ensuring this resource is available to schools in all areas of the country.  

In addition to working with schools, TCS has supported university students with job interviews, CV writing skills and setting challenges for MSc Management students to tackle real-world business problems. TCS provides mentors to support its graduate programme and has helped many university students from across Scotland go on to successful careers within the organisation.  Volunteers from the company have worked closely with schools via the STEM Ambassador initiative for many years.

UK Sustainathon 2022 – technology innovation for a sustainable future

In 2021, TCS launched its first UK Sustainathon event to coincide with COP26, in partnership with University of Glasgow.

Teams of university students across the UK submitted solutions to solve challenge statements relating to the ‘most ignored but most obvious’ (MIMO) climate and environmental challenges facing leading UK organisations today.

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Examples of challenges include reducing carbon, increasing sustainability in the supply chain and bringing about efficiencies in logistics or manufacturing processes as part of the global sustainability journey.  Students attended online masterclasses and mentor sessions run by TCS and partners from enterprise and academia, to submit presentations showcasing their solutions, which are shortlisted by the organisations who provided the challenges.

The eight finalist teams attended an online event to present their ideas live to a panel of judges from TCS, industry and academia. The winning team, ‘Biophilic’ from University College London, submitted a solution for The Improvement Service, to encourage more sustainable behaviour using digital technology by expanding the scope of the National Entitlement Card and rewarding users when they make more sustainable choices.

Biophilic were invited to present their solution at TCS’ Innovation Forum in London to an audience of senior representatives from major UK organisations, and both the winners and runners-up were contacted personally by the companies who submitted the challenge statements to provide feedback on their ideas.

TCS has now launched its 2022 iteration of its Sustainathon event for all university students across the UK to participate.

For further information on the Sustainathon and TCS’ pilot goIT competition for schools in Scotland, contact: Sustainathon.UK@tcs.com