Training companies’ staff in software skills

Presented by: University of Ljubljana

Industry: Higher Education

Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia

Size: <250 employees

Challenges:

• Upskilling personnel in software skills
• Skilling students in software skills
• Shortages of software professionals in Slovenia

Solution:

The Faculty of Computer and Information Science at the University of Ljubljana runs the FRI Academy (Akademija FRI), offering extra-curricular courses to train individuals, companies, or high schools in software skills.

The university appointed a coordinator, who oversees the organisation of the yearly programme of the courses, looks for interested academic lecturers and external collaborators and assumes the logistical and marketing responsibilities. The programme is led and delivered by the professors and researchers of the faculty, allowing the transfer of the latest research results and knowledge, and ensuring quality content.

The FRI Academy offers a wide range of training courses from data mining to big data management, to artificial intelligence and deep learning. Training activities are flexible and adapted to the audience, upon request from companies or high schools. They can take the form of lectures, technical training with a demo project, or first-hand intensive training — from basic to highly specialised levels.

The training courses are delivered on-site on the faculty’s premises and are limited to ten to fifteen participants depending on the type of activity to allow for higher levels of engagement with the participants and direct feedback.

Results:

Six tailored courses have been organised for companies but there is no one-fit-all solution. Results have shown that even if the courses are tailored to the needs of a specific company, it can only be done up to a certain degree and specific individual skills gaps remain. Companies should segment their needs further for more efficient training results.

Key benefits:

• Flexible training courses, tailored to the audience needs
• Direct transfer of knowledge from the latest research results
• Leverages the knowledge and expertise of academic staff to upskill and reskill companies’ personnel
• Companies can get public co-financing from the Slovenian Enterprise Fund to cover the training costs. In Slovenia, this is managed by the Digital Innovation Hub of Slovenia

Key resources:

• Availability of the academic staff, level of expertise and depth of knowledge in specific topics, depending on the company’s needs
• Visibility towards potential clients, i.e., companies and high schools