Enhancing Employability with Lifelong Learning in Cloud Computing Through Education to Workforce (E2W) Initiatives

The Joint Programme/Joint Education Institute (JP/JEI) Summer School initiative, developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Education to Workforce (E2W), uniquely addresses global cloud computing skill gaps by redesigning and implementing a holistic curriculum. The summer school program aims to enhance both technical and soft skills among students to meet current and future industry demands. To meet the fast-changing skills gaps in the cloud industry, we consistently update the syllabus every year to include developments in solutions architecture, software development, and data engineering at the associate level of AWS certification qualifications. It incorporates insights from in-depth labour market surveys conducted in three countries and leverages expertise from AWS professionals and industry partners. In addition, graduates receive a digital HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Report) transcript, showcasing the transferable lifelong skills acquired beyond their conventional academic coursework, thereby amplifying their employability. Since its inception in 2019, the program has garnered 90% positive feedback from students and employers. In developing the E2W initiative, we created a model based on five strategic steps namely leadership support to bring on board the JP/JEI leaders; curriculum alignment with the in-demand industry skills gaps; faculty development to enhance the skills development programme of JP/JEI staff that will be involved in delivering the training; career support that involved experts from the career service department and employer engagement in which we involved employers of such in-demand industry skills in cloud computing. We then implemented the E2W framework in four stages within six months. The implementation stages are based on strategic planning process, programme building, course content creation and launching of the summer school training. Having armed the students with industry-based skills with academic and professional qualifications, we organised a career fair in collaboration with AWS, which attracted 17 companies and employers with 375 students attending, out of which 40% were invited for job interviews. The graduates that got jobs through this programme are now participating in the training to encourage and mentor our students to take this training opportunity to enhance their employability skills. This program presents a valuable model for workforce development in the cloud computing industry through innovative education-industry collaboration.