Employers often feel that there is a digital skills gap and universities are not providing their students with the relevant skills for the workforce. While 81.5% of university students feel that digital skills will be important in their chosen career, only half believe that their courses prepare them well for the digital workplace. These are sobering statistics considering the well-documented technical skills gap in the UK and that good digital skills are becoming increasingly vital in the workplace.
It appears that the use of technology in teaching and assessment is not fully embedded into practice. Highlighting an apparent mismatch between the skills required by employers and those that students are familiar with, or believe are necessary, the report warns:
“We need to be concerned about the almost 20% of learners in HE and almost 40% in FE who do not feel digital skills to be relevant in their chosen careers.
Since we know that around 90% of all new jobs require good digital skills, there must be a question mark over the workplace awareness of these learners, and perhaps of their teachers.” (www.jisc.ac.uk)
