North West Agent Academy and The Extraordinary Club have been selected by Freeformers and Facebook to deliver certified digital skills training in the North West.
The move comes as part of the platform’s Community Boost programme, which aims to equip more people in Europe with the digital skills they need to compete in today’s workplace.
The training focuses on enabling people to develop confidence and skills for future employment in a digital economy – especially those found to be lacking in the current workforce – with students at The City of Liverpool College being the first cohort to take part.
As part of the programme, Facebook is partnering with Freeformers to offer training to 75,000 people across the EU in UK, France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain.
All training will be individually tailored – from someone with strong digital skills learning about design-thinking to someone who wants to gain employment learning how to improve their online presence.
The programme is aimed at people between the ages of 18 and 30 who want to improve existing skills or learn new digital skills to help them succeed professionally, personally or both. Training will cover modules including innovation, prototyping, web presence and social marketing.
Agent Academy was launched in 2014 as a solution to the issues faced by young people who find themselves without the skills they need to start careers in the creative and digital industries.
To date, 85 young people from across the North West have benefited from the 12-week programme, securing full-time industry jobs as a direct result, generating more than £2 million worth of salaries.
“The world of work is changing rapidly, and it’s vital that young people are skilled and ready for the opportunities that await them,” said Agent Academy director Zoe Wallace.
“Many young people are leaving education without the skills to hit the ground running in the digital industry leaving them unemployed or working in low skilled, unsecure jobs.
“We look forward to working alongside Facebook, with our partners at The Extraordinary Club, to deliver this incredibly important training, enabling young people to contribute to society and plug the skills gap.”
The Extraordinary Club is a company committed to inspiring creative and digital leaders of the future through skills development, business support and growth consultancy.
It works with some of the North West’s most cutting edge talent and pioneers from the worlds of film, TV, games and technology.
Agent Academy and The Extraordinary Club will be responsible for delivering training across the North West, with the programme then being rolled out throughout the country.