“The students are raving about it”: Get to know Northampton College’s new Digital Academy
Northampton College's new multi-million pound Digital Academy has now opened, giving students fantastic new surroundings to explore the possibilities of future technologies.
We spoke to Jake Zelkowicz, Assistant Principal for the school of Arts, Digital and Creative Industries, to find out about the vision for the Digital Academy and how the students have reacted to their new facility.
The vision
"The original vision came from our Principal, Pat Brennan-Barrett. She brought me into a meeting in September 2019 where she was talking about the idea of a building to house all kinds of courses which would develop the skills of the future.
“She asked me to lead on the project and that's when I started going off and talking to a whole bunch of different people, from employers to other colleges and universities to get a feel for what they thought would be digital courses and digital environments, which this facility would model itself on.”
Funding the future
"The majority of the funding came from SEMLEP, because of their research into what was needed in the region. SEMLEP produced a wide and detailed digital research report which looked at the local area and opportunities available here and the skills needed.
“The Digital Academy would fill a gap SEMLEP already knew was there. It was a perfect relationship and SEMLEP could see how the money would be well spent. To anyone with ideas and initiatives to build the local digital economy, I'd certainly encourage them to speak to SEMLEP."
Taking shape
"We were constantly looking at it and being asked questions. What would happen here and what would we need there?
“We had site visits and I ran a working group of staff throughout the college so they would have an input - what kind of tech did they want, what courses would we run initially and what would follow that a year or two on?
“There was a constant involvement, not only from people I met externally but also the people that would work within this facility about what it was they thought and wanted to happen in the building.
“It was modelled on the London Digital Institute, which is part of Staffordshire University - that was what we wanted to emulate. Even through the uncertainty of the pandemic, we got the finance done, the building built and now the courses are running within the two-year period, so I'm very, very pleased."
Local expertise
"I spoke to all kinds of local people - at the university, digital companies, freelancers, Digital Northampton - all kinds of people who had digital expertise.
“My background is in the media industry so initially I was looking at developing courses in digital media but we're looking at what else we could do - there are loads of experts in Northamptonshire whose knowledge I'll be looking to tap into, in areas like robotics and logistics.
"All the local digital employers I met have this one, focused dream of building a network and collaborating with other local businesses. Most of the people I spoke to had gone to London, built up their knowledge and experience, and have since come back to Northampton to develop their businesses. I think people really want to see the digital economy thriving here in Northampton."
The Digital Academy in action
“As well as the Esports arena and the TV studio, we've got a network room so IT students can look into the hardware aspects of their course.
“We've got 50 high spec machines in our two digital workshops for students in gaming and web design, and general purpose classrooms which all of our Digital Academy students can use.
“They've all been issued with either a laptop or a Chromebook so students can use their technology in any of those rooms.
"We have between 400 and 500 students using the Digital Academy. The students who use the facility are absolutely delighted. They're enthusiastic, they're committed, they love working in this new environment. The eSports arena is terrific. The TV studio is fabulous. The students are raving about it.”
Skills and careers
"We want to make sure every student is able to use digital technology on a basic level, and we'll run skills courses all the way up from Level 1 to Level 5, and an HND in cyber security.
“So we're trying to get students to develop their skills in Esports, AR and VR, special effects, TV and video, coding, programming and cyber security. Later on we have the potential to develop courses in robotics and logistics, but we want to make sure we cover the whole range of digital skills and future careers.
“My vision is that the building houses all kinds of people - technical experts, social media influencers, creatives - so they can come together across different courses, collaborate and work on projects - to build ideas, apps and businesses for the future.
"We're also looking to develop part-time evening courses which would allow more mature adults to return to education or re-skill in some way. That's next on the horizon. Then we'd be looking into whether we could hire it out to individuals or companies to make the most of the building."
Measuring success
"We measure the success of every course in lots of ways. We look at how many people pass the course and where they go next. Are they going to go to university? Are they going into a career?
“We'll certainly have an idea of how successful the Digital Academy will be, but the main idea is that within the region, this is a building where people come together and collaborate. If we can get people working together and being entrepreneurial, that'll be a really big measure of success for me.
"We'd love for the Digital Academy to help Northampton to generate lots of digital start-up companies. Ultimately though, we want our students to get a really good job and develop themselves in whatever field they want to."
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