UK-based leading industrial technology company Rolls-Royce has announced that it is granting free access to its world-class digital skills training programme. This is to assist businesses and people all over the world to get ready for the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, a recovery that could be digital-centric. 

“Many people and businesses are experiencing incredibly tough circumstances and these free training packages are a tangible way for us to offer some help,” explains Rolls-Royce Digital Academy head Manisha Mistry. “Many have been tried and tested by Rolls-Royce employees.” 

This initiative is being provided by Rolls-Royce in conjunction with its training partners and platforms. These are DataCamp, edX (an in-house but accredited Rolls-Royce programme), Google for Education, IBM, Learning Tree, TeenTech (aimed at 11-year olds to 19-year olds), and TechWeCan.

“[These training packages] can help people prepare for work and businesses transform ready for a digital future, just like we’ve been doing at Rolls-Royce for the last couple of years,” she highlights. “Whether you’re eight, 18 or 80 years old, these training packages will help you during this disruptive period of isolation: whether you need to keep your kids occupied, need new skills for a future job or just want to learn more digital skills in anticipation of the future.”

No fewer than 20 000 Rolls-Royce employees have been trained by the group’s Digital Academy during the past two years. These programmes are aimed at maintaining the group’s world-leading position in its markets.

The free release of these programmes has followed the creation of the Emergent Alliance, of which Rolls-Royce was a founder-member. The Emergent Alliance is a voluntary association of technology groups and data scientists and specialists, working jointly to develop new approaches to ensure a rapid and smooth post-pandemic economic recovery.

The initial batch of courses that have been released cover topics such as artificial intelligence, coding and digital culture, data science and machine learning. These courses range from 20-minute sessions to fully-certified extended-period training courses.