BIMA Digital Day leaves lasting impact on students as they call for more digital skills learning

The Digital Day survey, released today, shows that students’ hunger for digital is at an all-time high.

BIMA, the UK’s digital & tech trade body, today releases the results of its Digital Day survey which follows the 10th annual event in November 2021.

The survey, by Opinium, was designed to help BIMA understand the views of students towards careers within the digital industry, including how attractive the industry appears to them and reasons for their choices. Opinium asked over 1,200 students aged 10-19 for their thoughts before and after Digital Day.

Key findings:

• Hungry for new skills: Students want to learn more digital skills, including joining a coding club (54%) and taking part in online learning for different digital skills (47%), outside of the variety of technology-based classes and technology already provided by schools.
• Digital Day boosts interest in digital: 80% students say they would be interested in a career in the digital industry following what they’ve learnt from Digital Day. In stark contrast, before Digital Day only about three in ten (29%) students felt the industry to be desirable, whilst about three fifths (57%) were unsure about whether they wanted to work in the industry.
• Jobs in digital have got appeal: Students’ awareness of opportunities within the digital industry increases after Digital Day. Jumping from 20% before Digital Day to 65% after the event.

The research will be used to help BIMA better understand how students feel towards the industry, the classes and skills that schools could be providing, and how best to appeal to students in future.

The survey results show that BIMA members are clearly making a dent in addressing the nation’s digital skills shortage, but more can be done. Ensuring that working in digital is an option for each and every student in the country remains BIMA’s end goal.

Matt Sullivan, BIMA’s MD, adds: “It is clear from these results that Digital Day has a profound impact on students and their interest in learning digital skills as well as their awareness of careers in digital. It remains up to us in the sector to work with schools and local authorities to ensure more opportunities are made available to students as the survey shows there is a hunger for more.”

The 10th annual BIMA Digital Day took place in November 2021. The event was sponsored by digital innovation leaders EPAM Systems and supported by World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) who set the students involved a climate-related, real-world challenge to solve using their digital skills

For more information on the survey, contact Kelly Double: kelly.double@ingenuitylondon.com

Digital Day is back for 2022. For more information and to register click here.