Digital Day for Bucks UTC Students
Computing students at Bucks UTC have taken part in the BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) Digital Day run by employer partner BeSeen Marketing, to give students a valuable insight into the many different career opportunities in the digital sector.
The Digital Day began with a live broadcast and students posting questions via Twitter to Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, a world renowned advertising and marketing agency. Students were then split into teams to tackle a series of challenges set by BIMA and their partners. They were asked to think creatively about digital ways of helping young adults save money for Standard Life; building a new exciting feature for the ‘My Vodaphone’ app and creating a marketing campaign to promote a new album release for Sony Music. Each team then pitched their ideas and the winning teams from each challenge have been put forward to BIMA for entry into their National finals competition.
Alongside their GCSE and A Levels, Computing students at Bucks UTC work towards a BTEC in Computing with supporting Cisco qualifications.
Chris Bantock, Managing Director, BeSeen Marketing, said: “As an employer partner, we know first-hand that the digital skills of some Bucks UTC students are way ahead of what would normally be expected in this age group. This Digital Day has given us a great opportunity to explain more about the huge range of jobs available in this sector, for these young people to pursue a successful career in the digital arena. It is estimated by 2017, we will need 750,000 new digitally skilled people. This has been a great project to run with the students at Bucks UTC, who have come up with some excellent ideas for the challenges they were set.”
The UK has the largest creative sector in Europe, one of the world’s largest music industries and one of the most advanced digital TV and gaming markets. Many of the UK’s digital high-flyers are under 30 – confirming that this industry recognises young talent.
On Tuesday 8 December between 1630 and 1900, employer partners Cisco and Taylor Wimpey will be talking about their respective industries at an open evening at Bucks UTC, for anyone interested in a career in Computing or Construction. The UTC brings together major local employers like Taylor Wimpey, Cisco, Esri UK and Intel in equal partnership, plus Buckinghamshire New University and Aylesbury College. The UTC is offering students the right skills and motivational, work-related learning experience to improve their employability within the Construction and IT sectors.
For more information about the BIMA Digital Day, visit https://www.bimadday.org.uk or follow #DigitalDay15.