JOHANNESBURG - MICROSOFT has announced a partnership with the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (Pseta) and Afrika Tikkun to extend the Global Skilling Initiative that was launched last year to provide at least 20 000 young people with critical digital skills.
In a statement this week, the companies said the initiative would help young people to access digital skills courses for the most in-demand jobs and low-cost certifications. As part of this, Microsoft would extend, to the end of this year, free LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn courses and low-cost certifications that align to 10 of the most in-demand jobs.
“Research has found that the most critical future skills that businesses will continue to require in the next five years are all digital, with data analysts, data scientists and machine learning specialists topping the list of the most in-demand roles,” said Lillian Barnard, the managing director at Microsoft South Africa.
The initiative also included: the use of LinkedIn Skills Path to help companies better hire for skills; expanded access to LinkedIn’s Skills Graph to help create a common skills language for individuals, employers, educational institutions, and government agencies to help improve workforce planning, hiring and development programmes; Career Coach, a Microsoft Teams app powered by LinkedIn, to provide personalised guidance for higher education students to navigate their career journey; and Microsoft’s Career Connector, which intends to place 50 000 job seekers who have built skills via Microsoft’s non-profit and learning partners in tech-enabled jobs over the next three years.
All of the resources for the Global Skills Initiative are also available at www.aka.ms/jobseeker.
Afrika Tikkun is hosting and facilitating access to the portal – https://afrikatikkunservices.com/gsisa/ - where young people can register, undergo an assessment and start on their identified learning pathways.
Pseta will promote the initiative through its networks, including leveraging partnerships with other public sector entities in opening up access to libraries, computer labs, community halls and Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges, as well as assisting with the connectivity needed to participate in and complete the training and certifications that will help their employability by bringing them into the digital economy.
BUSINESS REPORT