09 May 2019

Microsoft has launched nine higher education courses with three universities in the UK in a bid to tackle the digital skills gap and boost the number of students studying emerging tech.

The US giant has partnered with the University of London, Staffordshire University and London School of Economics and Political Science.

The company said the courses in artificial intelligence cybersecurity and data science have been built to help tackle the skills gap in the UK.

“The incredible transformation we’re witnessing in the 21st century workplace calls out for key organisations - governments, higher education institutions, employers, the non-profit sector - to step up and work together to teach, train and prepare workers for the jobs of tomorrow,” says Karen Kocher, general manager of 21st century jobs, skills and employability at Microsoft. “This is a crucial part of our purpose at Microsoft and we are proud to join forces with seminal, global learning institutions to help make good on that purpose.”

The nine courses are: data analysis, data science, big data, cybersecurity, DevOps, IT support, Internet of Things, AI and entry-level software development.