Groningen invests in digital skills

The Groningen National Programme has honoured the Digital Academy Northern Netherlands project. The Province and the Municipality of Groningen recognize the importance of digitization and are keen to help the Digital Academy to improve the digital skills of Groningen’s population. Hanze University of Applied Sciences (UAS) Groningen, Noorderpoort, the University of Groningen (UG) and Biblionet Groningen recognize the importance of digitization and are working alongside the Digital Academy to help to achieve this societal ambition. This is one of seven projects being run as part of the Working on Development (Werken aan Ontwikkeling) programme headed by the Province of Groningen and the Regional Labour Market Platform.

City and province with the highest level of digital literacy

The Digital Academy is set to contribute to the Digital Literacy Coalition’s goal to make Groningen the city and province with the highest level of digital literacy in the Netherlands by 2025.

The current range of teaching for digital skills is very fragmented and difficult for the various target groups to find. As IT and digitization fulfil an increasingly important role in many sectors, there is a growing demand for IT teaching among ordinary citizens, employees and job-seekers from diverse sectors and with various levels of competency, who want to polish up their digital skills.

Digital skills at all levels

The approval given by the Board of the Groningen National Programme, a partnership between the government, the Province and municipalities, makes it possible to combine the existing range of digital skills courses with the range on offer at regional libraries. The Digital Academy will be an online platform promoting courses relating to digitization in the Northern Netherlands. It will also ensure that the courses are easy to find and to follow. The platform is aimed at people who live in the city and Province of Groningen, to provide them with life-long digital learning. Everyone, irrespective of their prior knowledge or education, will be able to find a suitable digital skills course via the platform.

Robin van den Berg from Hanze UAS Groningen, initiator of the Digital Academy Northern Netherlands, stresses the importance of digitization: ‘Digital literacy is going to be a very important skill for everyone. With help from the Digital Academy and our partners, we will ensure that no-one will be left behind in the digital revolution. We are keen to prevent a social divide in the area of digitization. By working together with the regional libraries, we can give the population access to the entire range of courses and reach target groups with poor literacy skills (including digital literacy skills). Support from the Groningen National Programme allows us to reach out to all of our target groups and raise awareness.’

The Digital Academy aims to increase the digital knowledge of the population of the city and the Province of Groningen. This will be achieved partly by collaborating with various local-interest organizations, and partly by organizing campaigns promoting the use and necessity of digitization to raise awareness among the residents of Groningen (and ultimately, of the Northern Netherlands).