IBM, Edith Cowan University team up for tech internships

IBM and Edith Cowan University (ECU) have unveiled an industry and education internship program in a bid to bolster the technology talent pipeline coming out of Western Australia.

The program focuses on current and emerging high demand skill areas, like user experience designers, software engineers, data scientists, mobile application developers and project managers.

“This transformational model represents the next generation of industry-embedded learning and is proving to be exactly what the market and students are screaming out for,” ECU vice-chancellor Steve Chapman said.

“When we talk of the jobs of the future, the future of education and student readiness – this is a breakthrough model that dramatically increases employability. This is the territory we want to be in, to take on the skills-gap challenging the industry, simultaneously offering students an income stream aligned to their studies and future careers.

“In WA’s innovation context, there’s an increasing demand for graduates with a unique combination of skills in creativity, technology and business. This model aims to address this skills demand while also redefining how students consider their study journey.”

IBM and ECU piloted the program in 2021, with two intake periods involving some 50 students. The program also focused on boosting diversity in the sector, targeting more female, Indigenous, LGBTQI+ and neurodiverse graduates.

One of the participants and recent ECU graduate Aryana Eraman said in the announcement, “Having real life clients was one of the most valuable educational aspects of her university experience.”

IBM Design director Vivien Hegedus said, “Together IBM and Edith Cowan University are developing industry-ready graduates, who not only have strong discipline knowledge, but also have the employability skills and industry insights necessary to gain a competitive advantage in the global job market.”

“Today’s digital transformation across industries is creating jobs that require new skills and innovative thinking. Through such industry-academic collaboration, we can help to advance relevant skills development among students in Western Australia to better prepare them for tomorrow’s jobs.

“This internship program will allow students to acquire some of the most in demand business and technical skills, helping to fast-track their post study employment opportunities.”

The internships also involved stints at IBM customers across WA, including Water Corporation WA, multinational engineering, logistics and energy firm ATCO and Western Power.

In the announcement, Western Power head of ICT Tracy Deveugle-Frink said, “The students have been able to assist Western Power with our substantial digital program, allowing us to deliver quality outcomes, while also giving the students a unique opportunity to experience working in a dynamic and safe environment.”

Earlier this month, Microsoft collaborated with University of Technology Sydney to launch an online graduate certificate aimed to address the shortage of IT consultants globally.

In August, managed services provider Orro Group announced the first set of recipients of its first university scholarship program aimed for students from under-represented groups and experiencing educational barriers.