European Code Week is an initiative designed to help bridge the digital skills gap by inspiring young people and educators to program and use technology. Originally a European campaign, the EU Code Week 2021 reached almost 80 countries and 4 million people participated around the world!
Certiport has long been a supporter of this week and is thrilled to have been awarded a Certificate of Excellence from the European Commission for our role in EU Code Week – for the fourth year running! This year, we’ve also been awarded a ‘super organizer’ status too! We believe that ensuring citizens gain the digital competence they need is imperative to future-proof our society. We work to help them make their skills visible and transferrable through internationally recognized certifications.
With predictions that 90% of all jobs will require some level of digital skills in the near future, economies around the world are wrestling not only with reskilling to fill existing gaps, but also finding solutions to ensure that future labor forces have the skills and resilience to adapt. Education systems are considered the backbone of the economy and thus must modernize to scale up the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in teaching and learning. Through EU Code Week, Europe aims to reach 50% of all schools by the end of this year, to ensure that acquiring digital skills starts early and continues throughout life.
Coding can help develop competences such as computational thinking, problem solving, creativity and teamwork, all skills that are needed to move future generations from mere consumers of technology and content to veritable creators. Of course, coding and programming aren’t the whole story. Students, need a range of skills from basic applications, to digital productivity, entrepreneurship skills, creative digital design, and much more. But it is a great place to start.
The need for these skills also extends well beyond students: to teachers, parents, job seekers and citizens in general. Through the Certiport network of national partners we worked to ensure that just as students had the chance to benefit, so did educators through the Microsoft Certified Educator program. We also helped job seekers ensure they could upskill to advance their employment prospects with networking, security, cloud and server administration skills filling that much-needed gap for specialist level talent tool.
Certiport is proud to be part of European Code Week, we encourage teachers, schools, and our partners around the world to mark their calendars for EU Code Week 2022: October 8th – 23rd. We look forward making EU Code Week this year an even bigger success.
Learn more about the EU Code Week here.