The project of ““EU Support for the Competitiveness of Kosovo’s ICT Sector”, funded by EU and implemented by WEglobal in consortium with Prishtina REA and European Management and in cooperation with Ministry of Economy, organises the Award Certification Ceremony for the 10th Semester of the ICT and Digital Skills Training Programme at Vendum, Prishtina, on 3rd of July, at 17:00h.

The project is designed to address the lack of skilled workforce in Kosovo ICT sector by providing advanced ICT training for students, graduated students from computer sciences, engineering, programming and maths, even developers staff from ICT companies, start-ups and freelancers. The project seeks to improve youth digital knowledge and skills to have the possibility to ensure their employment and future career in ICT sector, start their own businesses as start-ups in existing innovation or incubation centres of Kosovo or become an ICT freelancer/consultant. On the other hand, the project contributes to increase the business skills of ICT businesses and promote their products through organisation of targeted business and management training, B2B events in EU countries, promotes the digitalisation of traditional sectors by bringing together ICT businesses with companies from other domestic important sectors of economy.  

Among the key achieved results by the end of the 8th Semester are the following: 

  • 3.103 young people trained
  • 2.502 young people certified on 8 modern ICT training modules, while over 500 declared being employed
  • 40 paid internship positions supported by the project, half of them got employed
  • 18.661 applications to participate in the ICT training were received
  • Seven international B2B events were implemented in EU countries for 45 Kosovar ICT managers with over 60 participants, with over 358 meetings undertaken, over 85 valuable contacts established and over 22 LoI/ NDAs’ were signed
  • 25 regional B2B events were organised for ICT companies to meet with Companies from other sectors of Economy in Kosovo: with more than 960 participants

The 10th Certification Award Ceremony is organised to deliver certificates to 240 certified trainees, who participated in the 300-hour advanced ICT training programme in one of the eight training modules: Web Development Professional, Enterprise Java Programming, Cyber Security, Web Development Practitioner, Python, Big Data Analytics/Cloud Computing, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, during the last five months. The training modules were delivered by experienced international and local trainers. The certificates will be awarded to trainees who successfully completed the ICT training and passed the final exam. Among the trainees were students, graduated (Bachelor and Master) and employees with a wide range of profiles such as software developers, software engineers, database administrators, database analysts, database developers, cybersecurity engineers, security analysts, IT Managers, network engineers, data analysts, data science specialists, IT administrators and other IT specialists.

After the Award Certification Ceremony, ICT for Kosovo’s Growth, organizes a thematic session: From Training to Employment: Sustaining Kosovo’s Digital Skills Development. The objectives of this session are as follows:

  • Celebrate the impact of the 10th Semester and overall project
  • Discuss project achievements, lessons learned and further enhancement of Kosovo’s ICT sector competitiveness 
  • Explore future-forward topics including AI, global e-services and cross-sector innovation
  • Co-design a multi-stakeholder platform for continuity and transformation of ICT training

 

The whole event (award ceremony and thematic session) will be honoured by the participation of EU Ambassador, Mr. Aivo ORAV, Minister of Economy, Mrs. Artane Rizvanolli, then, Mrs. Daniela Huhmann, Team Leader Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth, European Union Office in Kosovo, Mr. Agim Kukaj, Head of Department of Information and Communication Technology, Ministry of economy, Mrs. Vjollca Çavolli, STIKK – CEO. In addition, the representatives of Kosova Telekom and ARKEP will attend the event, ICT and Digital Industry participants, business chambers, project interns etc  

The ceremony will be welcomed by Ahmet Jetullahu -Meti, Prishtina REA director.