Digital skills for better lives

Click Start is a nationwide training programme developed by the Institute of Coding and funded by Nominet, the guardians of the .UK domain. Launched in 2023, the programme aims to tackle the digital skills gap and improve social mobility by empowering individuals facing barriers to employment and training.

Through partnerships with leading universities and charities, Click Start delivers essential digital and professional skills, paired with comprehensive wraparound support to help participants thrive.

To support learners on their journey, Get My First Digital Job serves as an online hub dedicated to digital careers. This platform provides a centralised space for participants to access job opportunities, attend online events, complete online learning modules, and receive personalised guidance from expert career coaches. Employers can also create profiles, post job openings and engage directly with learners through interactive online events.

As you read on, Professor Rachid Hourizi MBE, Director of the Institute of Coding (IoC), explains the organisation’s origins and Click Start’s journey. He also discusses Get My First Digital Job.

Why don’t you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your career to date.

I'm Rachid. My career journey started in the fast-paced world of commodity and financial markets — a far cry from academia. About a decade ago, I made the leap to higher education, joining the University of Bath. Over the past 10 years, I’ve embraced this new path, spending the last eight as the Director of the Institute of Coding, where I’ve been focused on creating opportunities for people to thrive in today’s digital world with high-quality training.

The Institute of Coding, led by the University of Bath, is a national collaboration of universities, employers and charities on a mission to make high-quality digital training accessible to all. I've been involved in the Click Start programme since its inception — from a bright idea in a bid document to where we are now.

And the Institute of Coding — can you tell us about its genesis?

We were set up and launched by the Prime Minister in 2018 in response to three key challenges. First, the need for digital skills — at scale. The scale issue was the key point.

The second challenge was the need for great industry alignment between public educators and employers. Winding the clock back, there was evidence that there was a real gap between what educators were teaching and the skills that industry needed. That needed shifting.

Thirdly, inclusion. Diversity and inclusion have been part of us since the beginning. We’ve enrolled more than a million learners in IoC and more than 46% of those identify as women — compared with only 36% of women in STEM through traditional higher education routes.

I think of what we’re doing now as our latest era — the Click Start era. Thanks to very generous funding from Nominet, we’ve put together another national programme. Now we’re in Wales, Scotland and England.

Let’s focus on coding. Do you teach just programming?

Coding is certainly important, but we’re interested in a very wide range of digital skills. We’re also interested in how those skills are evolving — particularly as we move out of the digital era and into the AI era…that idea of coding becomes less relevant and the focus shifts to providing a set of skills that allows products to be created.

I think there are two ways we can help people. Firstly, those people whose first specialism is digital — analysts, software engineers, IT support…those  who identify as working in tech. For them, the skills we teach are absolutely fundamental to their jobs. The link between their skills and job is direct.

What’s interesting is there’s a much bigger need for digital skills among people who are — I use the term ‘bilingual’. Retailers, engineers, lawyers and financial specialists — people who don’t define themselves as working in IT but for whom advanced IT skills offer career opportunities. These are opportunities that they simply wouldn’t get without those skills. I see this need for bilinguals increasing in the AI era.

Why is it important to ensure tech careers are open to everyone?

Inclusion is crucial for two main reasons: principles and practicality. On principle, it's a moral imperative to ensure everyone benefits from technological advancements and societal changes. Specifically, for the IoC, using government and charity funds means helping as wide a range of people as possible.

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Practically, inclusion is essential because focusing on a small part of the population won't provide enough skilled digital experts. Don’t waste precious talent by excluding it.

Secondly, you can’t develop a range of great products without insights from different groups; You can’t build products for people in later life without insight from people who have experienced later life, for example. You can’t ask one group to guess about the needs of another — it never works.

The Click Start programme addresses this by reaching underrepresented groups and providing benefits to individuals and companies. The special sauce of Click Start is its collaborative approach, bringing together universities, charities and companies to achieve better results for learners and organisations.

So, I think the participation is what sets us apart. More than 60% of our Click Start learners are from underrepresented ethnicities. Again, our social mobility and inclusion statistics are very positive.  

How closely do you work with employers, and how do they contribute to Click Start’s success?

All IoC programmes work very closely with employers, and this is particularly true for Click Start and the Nominet relationship. Employers play important roles from governance and advisory boards to shaping and delivering training that leads to employment. This includes HR and hiring specialists who help learners secure specific jobs.

This approach aligns perfectly with the Get My First Digital Job project. One of our central pillars is industry alignment, meaning that industry and employment are integrated into every programme we offer. This principle is present in all our initiatives, ensuring that learners are well prepared for the job market.

What would you say to an employer considering getting involved with Get My First Digital Job?

It’s a good question and I’d point back to our earlier conversation about inclusion and providing opportunities for people. We’ve got tens of thousands of people across the programme, people who have the junior skills employers have told us that they are looking for.

Talking to, and working with, those learners will help employers fill persistent skill gaps…it will help them to develop better teams. Frankly, by working with them, employers are doing the right thing. We have to make social mobility and inclusion a focus.

Finally, how do you see AI changing things and fitting in?

Again, I think we need those ‘bilinguals’ — people who combine their roles with AI, like AI-savvy retailers, engineers and youth workers. This highlights a national need and revisits the soft skills we teach alongside tech. Learning about machine learning is great, but pairing it with skills like change management, teamwork, ethics and communication is what will truly set someone apart. These additional skills don’t just make you employable — they make you stand out in a world brimming with opportunities in the new economy.