14th June 2023

Read more here – Edinburgh College

Edinburgh College and 2i Testing have won a national award for a partnership project which supports the development of students’ digital skills and charts a route into employment within the tech sector.

The College and 2i picked up the Partnership Award at the Herald Higher Education (HE) Awards, held in Glasgow, for the creation of digital and tech programme – Codespace – which comprises an introductory tech course and a six-week Bootcamp.

2i is a UK based, independent, award-winning expert in Quality Assurance and Testing. The College and 2i have been collaborating on Codespace together since the first cohort of students back in 2021. The aim of the programme is to provide students from underrepresented backgrounds, including those who don’t have a degree or are seeking a career change, an opportunity to build their digital skills and find routes into the tech industry that see them leave with the prospect of gaining employment directly after their studies.

Upon completion of the introductory online course – which covers the basics around HTML, CSS, web development, Python programming and SQL – students can move on to the more challenging six-week Software Development Bootcamp.

The Bootcamp, which is also delivered online, blends together front and back-end development modules including programming, software testing, SQL and more.

In addition, Codespace covers many non-tech skills that students feel less confident with when applying for jobs such as communications skills, interview techniques, working as part of a team, and presentation skills.

2i Software Engineers participate in every Bootcamp cohort, providing guidance on the curriculum, a mock interview for every candidate, a networking event per cohort and supportive and detailed feedback to students and the delivery team.

The power of the Bootcamp comes from having 2i Testing software engineers as an integral part of the course delivery, interacting with the students, and  building their confidence. Affordability is also an important factor in bringing tech education to those who otherwise would not be able to fund it privately, thanks to funding from Data Skills for Work, many underrepresented groups in the tech industry are able to study Codespace for free.

Since the inception of the programme, more than 200 students have undertaken the introductory course and three cohorts of students have gone on to complete the Bootcamp, with several students now having gained jobs at 2iTesting.

We’re thrilled to have won the Partnership Award alongside 2i Testing for the Codespace Software Development programme. It has been an incredible experience working alongside industry experts like 2i to develop this course which has delivered fantastic outcomes for the students. Working alongside industry is so important to ensuring that we are providing students with the skills they need to go out into the workplace and become tech professionals. Thank you to 2i for all that they give to this programme and all our participating students for making this programme a success. I would like to extend a thank you to Data Skills for Work for financially supporting many of the students to study the course for free, through their data credits scheme.

Sam Blyth, Head of School: Computing and Tech

At 2i we’re passionate about opening the technology industry up to everyone. We’re delighted to see CodeSpace get the recognition is deserves for helping people find roles in technology that may otherwise have never considered a career in tech. Sam Blyth and her team at Edinburgh College have done a tremendous job of breaking down the barrier to entry for our industry and I’m glad that 2i was here to help.

Adam Pettman, Head of Engineering at 2i