Mobile World Capital Barcelona and the Regional Government of Catalonia implement a pioneering programme in Spain to offer vocational training for high-level digital employment

• 18 courses will be given and 540 people trained in 7 specialities that are much sought-after by companies in Catalonia with difficulties in finding personnel
• Training is free of charge and aimed at unemployed people with higher education qualifications
• The cost of the whole programme amounts to 1.75 million euros, which is fully financed by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Families through the European Social Fund
• This initial training package marks the start of a broader programme to encourage high-level vocational training promoted by the ministries of Labour, Social Affairs and Families and of Business and Knowledge, in association with public and private agents. The programme also envisages further courses until 2023 in strategic areas such as the digital sector, renewable energies, the automotive industry and care for people

17 May, 2021

Barcelona, 17 May 2021.- Mobile World Capital Barcelona and the ministries of Labour, Social Affairs and Families and of Business and Knowledge have implemented a pioneering programme in Spain to offer high-level vocational training in the sector, as part of Barcelona Digital Talent (BDT) –a public and private alliance working to position Barcelona and Catalonia as benchmarks for digital talent–. This initiative specifically entails 18 courses that will be given from June onwards and will train 540 people in 7 specialities that are much sought-after by companies with difficulties in finding personnel in Catalonia. The cost of the programme amounts to 1.75 million euros, financed by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Families through the European Social Fund, which means that this occupational training will be free of charge for students.

The shortage of specialized professionals in specific digital profiles is partly due to a scarcity of continuous programmes for high-level training that meet the needs of companies. Over the last two years, demand for personnel in this sector has actually increased by 80% while supply has only grown by 23%. Moreover, 30% of the digital professionals working in Barcelona are from other countries. In Catalonia the ICT sector comprises 16,400 companies and 114,300 workers.

The people participating on these courses will be mainly unemployed and in some cases will have ICT sector training. They will be encouraged to improve and acquire new skills and to retrain and this will foster professional reorientation. Furthermore, it is expected that around 40% of students will be women. Training will be given through universities and training centres. The courses will be intensive and last a maximum of 300 hours.

According to Carlos Grau, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, “at Mobile World Capital Barcelona we are aware that in some digital specialities there is a shortage of professionals and at a complex time for employment like now, when the labour force survey points to an unemployment rate of 15.98% in the first quarter of 2021, we are faced with an opportunity that we must not waste”. He also added: “MWCapital ‘s activity has yielded a vocation to establish a real legacy in the region. Hence, our commitment to people. It is talent that will make us evolve and with this initial pioneering programme, we shall provide not only knowledge, but also the chance to improve people’s lives through technology.”

“We are implementing a pioneering nationwide programme of vocational training for high-level employment. Never before has this type of training been provided by any national public employment service. Although the programme’s primary aim is for people to retrain, it is also intended to encourage people already in the sector to improve their skills”, explained Ariadna Rectoret, General Director of the Public Employment Service of Catalonia.

Francesc Xavier Grau, Secretary for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge, stated that “with this initial package of courses we are fulfilling the goals of the National Agreement for the Knowledge Society to make up for the lack of a public policy for continuous higher training, while also answering people’s needs by guaranteeing them lifelong learning”.

The project also contemplates the creation of a Future Digital Talent Information Office, where students and professionals who wish to train in digital skills may receive advice and come into contact with the world of business.

The initiative to deploy this training programme emerged from the Consortium for Continuous Training of Catalonia, which had detected that some of the people taking part on its programmes had university qualifications. Joint work with Barcelona Digital Talent (an alliance promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona, the Regional Government of Catalonia , Barcelona City Hall, Cercle Tecnològic de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech City, 22@Network, Foment del Treball and Barcelona Global), was initiated a year and a half ago. It also involved Catalonia’s university system and was undertaken with a view to identifying the needs of companies, designing training contents, awarding university credits for the courses and, lastly, including  the specialities in the catalogue of the Spanish and Catalan public employment offices in order to guarantee the award of an official certificate.

Data gathered by Barcelona Digital Talent in the Digital Talent Overview, an annual report featuring in-depth analysis of the status of digital talent in Barcelona, was used with a view to identifying the most sought-after professions by the sector with regard to technology. For each profession, a second report was produced in collaboration with 22@NETWORK BCN. This stipulated the skills required by each profile, from a business perspective. These profiles were used to draw up a selection for professionals with no digital experience, focused on the areas of web and app development, Big Data, Cloud and CRM/ERP. They are as follows: Java Backend Developer, Open Sourcer Backend Web Developer, Frontend Developer, Android Mobile Developer, Data Scientist, Cloud Deployer and CRM implementation project management.

A group of 25 experts from 10 different universities were asked to define the training programmes, which were then validated and approved by the Catalan Public Employment Office (SOC) and by the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU Catalunya). In June, the Catalan Public Employment Office (SOC) will issue a call to all training centres interested in running the courses. For the first time, universities may answer the call.

It is also the first time that the catalogue of training specialities of the Catalan Public Employment Office (SOC) has included level 4 and 5 -university level- courses because Vocational Training for Employment has traditionally been focused at lower levels. Another significant fact is that 8.6% of the population registered as jobseekers have higher education qualifications.

Global vocational training programme for high-level employment

This initial training package represents the starting signal for a pioneering project of vocational training for high-level employment in the public employment services, promoted jointly by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Families -through the Catalan Public Employment Office and the Consortium for Continuous Training of Catalonia-, and the Ministry of Business and Knowledge, in coordination with the university system of Catalonia.

This public training policy is addressed to the production sectors that drive Catalonia’s economy with a view to facilitating and increasing the employability of people with university qualifications who are out of work. Until 2023, further training courses will be promoted for unemployed people in strategic sectors, starting with the automotive industry, energy transition and the care sector. These are currently being finalized with other public and private agents in each sector. Other areas of work are digital health and bioinformatics ,tourism, hotel and catering and leisure.

The implementation of this global programme has arisen from a need to lay the cornerstones of the future public system of continuous higher educational training in order to deploy a policy that is already fully implemented elsewhere in Europe and is crucial for advancement as an innovation-based economy and society.