Northern Regional College offers a helping hand with free virtual learning courses

Northern Regional College is offering a range of free fully accredited short online courses for people who want to upskill or retrain.

The courses will focus on improving digital skills, essential skills, employability skills and leadership and management and are aimed at closing skills gaps identified by the industry.

Funding for the initiative is being provided by the Department for the Economy (DfE) which has agreed to support up to 2,000 free places on short courses at local further and higher education providers.

Jenny Small, Vice Principal Performance and Development, said the College had invested heavily in its online learning provision.

“During this very uncertain time, we have been refining, expanding and enhancing our online course provision so we could give a virtual helping hand to anyone wanting to upskill or retrain,” she said.

Jenny added that because the courses will be delivered completely online, their flexibility should appeal to anyone having to juggle work or family commitments: “With online courses, you can complete the activities when and where it suits you best which can give you a better work life balance.”

The online courses, which are available from entry level up to postgraduate level, will run between the start of July and November 2020.

Social media courses include: Level 2 Award in Social Media, which will explore how social media can be used to make use of networks in order to engage with individuals and groups; and the Level 2 Award in Digital Marketing, aimed at developing an understanding of internet and communications technologies, including search engine optimisation (SEO) and the use of mobile and internet technologies for marketing applications.

The Level 2 Award in Employability Skills will focus on helping to develop the skills, attributes and behaviours required to enter and succeed in the world of work.

The Essential Skills courses on offer include Level 1 and Level 2 certificates in ICT which are designed to help develop practical computer skills needed for the workplace or personal use.

A Safeguarding award, Level 2 Understanding Protection and Safeguarding will help people develop the skills and knowledge needed to understand protection and safeguarding when working with children, young people and adults at risk.

There are two Level 3 Management and Leadership courses on offer including: Principles in Management and Leadership – Managing a Team to Achieve Results which will help develop an understanding of the nature of teams in the workplace, and how these can be managed to achieve results; and Principles in Management and Leadership – Managing Volunteers (COVID-19 Response) which is designed to develop a knowledge of how to engage, motivate and support volunteers to be effective within their role and address challenges with a ‘can-do’ attitude.

The Level 6 Award Professional Management and Leadership Practice – Innovation and Change is aimed at the professional manager and leader to help them understand innovation and change within organisational contexts.

For further information, go to www.nrc.ac.uk/campaign/free-online-courses or email business.engagement@nrc.ac.uk.