A DIGITAL Academy set to teach students software and coding, web development, games design and social media is being unveiled this week. The Digital Academy will welcome its first students as part of the launch of Northampton College’s state of the art Daventry Campus this autumn.
The Digital Academy will form a key part of the campus’s technical and professional curriculum providing students with cutting edge facilities and training from digital experts and local employers from the creative and digital sector.
A DIGITAL Academy set to teach students software and coding, web development, games design and social media is being unveiled this week. The Digital Academy will welcome its first students as part of the launch of Northampton College’s state of the art Daventry Campus this autumn.
The Digital Academy will form a key part of the campus’s technical and professional curriculum providing students with cutting edge facilities and training from digital experts and local employers from the creative and digital sector.
Students signing up to a Digital Academy course will also benefit from work placements within digital companies to help them gain the skills and qualifications needed to secure jobs in this fast moving sector.
Principal Pat Brennan-Barrett said: “Our new curriculum, with a focus on preparing students for the world of work, will help prepare students for the fast-paced world of the creative media and digital sectors. We have designed the Digital Academy with the young people of Daventry in mind and are delighted to be able to offer them a fresh opportunity in brand new, state of the art facilities. Our ambition is to make sure that Daventry Campus students are well equipped to win the best jobs after they have successfully achieved their qualifications”.
The range of courses on offer as part of the Digital Academy will include skills for careers in:
Multi-media design
Website development
Computer programming and coding
Digital games design and product development
Video, film and photography
Digital art and animation
TV and radio advertising.
Plans for the new curriculum have been endorsed by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP) which leads an industry group for the creative and cultural sector that includes over 700 companies in the County. The sector contributes £97m to the local economy and business is booming. NEP is working to support small and growing arts based and creative businesses to increase income and revenue generation, recruit new apprentices, open up new markets and improve productivity.
NEP’s Chief Executive, Jo Lappin said, “Northampton College’s decision to develop a new Digital Academy at Daventry is excellent news for Northamptonshire’s businesses and students. We are aware that there is significant demand for digital skills in the workplace, particularly in programming and coding, and the Academy will be really important in helping to respond to this local business need. The demand for these skills both nationally and locally is very high, so students from the Digital Academy will have really good employment opportunities once they have finished their learning”.
She added, “Digital businesses have high levels of productivity and make a strong contribution to the economy, so developing a skilled workforce will help Northamptonshire to attract more of this type of business, which in turn will drive up overall economic performance. Northamptonshire is highly entrepreneurial, with business start-up rates exceeding national levels, and I therefore hope that the Digital Academy will help create the next generation of digital entrepreneurs, by bringing together this entrepreneurial spirit with real digital expertise.”
The new, multi-million pound Badby Road West campus continues to take shape and, in addition to the Digital Academy, facilities will include industry-standard workshops for motor vehicle engineering, state of the art library facilities, contemporary hairdressing and beauty therapy salons, ICT and Mac suites, teaching space for healthcare and childcare plus dedicated provision for students with learning difficulties and disabilities. In addition, there are growing numbers of vacancies in the Daventry area for Apprenticeships that enable students to ‘earn while they learn’.
The curriculum includes a range of study programmes that consist of technical and professional qualifications plus maths and English and employability skills.
Northampton College was awarded a £6.5m Local Growth Fund by the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) to fund this purpose built campus in Daventry town centre. Read all about the new campus and see the construction underway with our live digital feed: www.northamptoncollege.ac.uk/facilities/1184-daventry_campus.html