-
.
- Ελληνικά
A press conference was held on Friday 12 January 2024 to present the "ICT Re-Up Skilling" programme, implemented by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, the Digital Security Authority and the Cyprus Association of Information Technology Enterprises (CITEA).
The training programme is aimed at upgrading skills and retraining employees and/or unemployed people with academic qualifications in science or economics. With appropriate training, the selected individuals will acquire the knowledge and skills needed to be successfully employed in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector, with a view to exploiting new career opportunities in sectors where there is an increased demand.
In his address, the new Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Dr Nicodemus Damianou, said that the Deputy Ministry, as the custodian of the country's digital policy, has adopted Europe's objectives for the transition to the Digital Decade and is promoting a number of actions to achieve them, such as the new pilot programme for upgrading and retraining. The Deputy Minister also stressed that this initiative is proof of the coherent approach and the exploitation of synergies within the government, as well as the constructive cooperation that can be achieved between the private and public sectors in order to accelerate the country's digital transformation.
The Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, Mr. Yannis Panayiotou, said that the Government of the country has a popular mandate for a people-centred policy, and the implementation of this policy is horizontal in all aspects of public life centred on work. He stressed that in the modern world, which is constantly evolving, the skills acquired at the starting point are not enough, but must be constantly strengthened and increased, especially in the rapidly evolving fields of technology, information and communication. In this context, stepping up efforts to achieve the goal of green and digital transition is essential so that our country's human resources can play a leading role in a modern environment and our country can continue to develop steadily over the next few years and its citizens can live in prosperity. Panagiotou concluded by saying that the programme presented is a basic tool in this direction and he hoped that its results will soon be felt and that its operation will be expanded with additional participants in the coming period.
Communications Commissioner George Michaelides stressed the need for more people to be involved in the ICT sector, particularly in cybersecurity, noting that there is a major shortage of ICT specialists in Europe, in the order of 350 thousand positions. He added that an academic background in IT is not necessary for employment in Cybersecurity, as it could attract people with different studies, such as mathematicians to work on encryption issues. Dimitris Nisiotis said that the need for IT professionals cannot be met by the existing workforce and one of the main ways to increase the number of IT specialists in the short term is re-skilling. He went on to announce that a number of CITEA member companies have already expressed their preliminary commitment to employ the candidates who will join the "ICT Re-Up Skilling" programme, provided they pass the written exams after the training and respond to the interviews with the companies.
The conference concluded with a presentation of the programme by Dr Neofytos Papadopoulos, Director General of the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy. Dr Papadopoulos spoke about the importance of selecting the 15 most suitable candidates to participate in the programme in order to achieve as many success stories as possible that translate into employment opportunities. Finally, he mentioned that there will be an evaluation of the programme both at the completion of the trainings and 6 months later, to better monitor the impact of the programme in upgrading the skills and careers of the trainees.
More information on the training programme will be provided at a special event to be held on 02/02/2024 at the premises of the Digital Security Authority, to which all interested parties are invited. The event will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to meet privately with technology companies in Cyprus. The training programme will last approximately 8 weeks and will start in mid-March 2024. The programme "ICT Re-Up Skilling", which is funded by the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Plan, has been included in the National Action Plan developed by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy to upgrade the Digital Skills of citizens across the whole spectrum of social structure and economic activity.
(EAT/AF)
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
