The Institute of Coding (IoC) is launching its Industrial Masters programme for Artificial Intelligence (IMAI) for a third year, announced Matt Warman, minister for digital infrastructure, at the CogX Festival earlier this week (14 June).
The IoC, a national consortium of industry, educators and outreach providers, led by the University of Bath, hopes the course will help to address the UK’s skills shortage by instilling students with employer-led, industry-informed digital knowledge and expertise.
Through the IMAI programme, the IoC is working alongside the government’s Office for Artificial Intelligence to advance its work on a nationwide programme of industry-funded postgraduate degrees and work placements. The studentships and placements use higher education as a platform to help people build careers in AI.
“Through our bold new National AI Strategy we will lead the charge in harnessing the power of AI to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time…” – Matt Warman, minister for digital infrastructure
The IMAI team has successfully paired students with industry partners since March 2019, increasing skills and diversity within the professional field.
The initiative has seen the creation of new AI Masters places at UK universities funded by corporations such as DeepMind, QuantumBlack, Cisco and BAE Systems, backed by the UK government. One such partnership is the creation of the DeepMind scholarship programme at Queen Mary University, which offered eight places to women and students from Black and other ethnic minority groups. The new funding will enable more initiatives like this.
With AI systems and processes increasingly being used across sectors – including manufacturing, fashion, construction, medical imaging, and more – the IMAI team will continue to serve multiple industries and assist organisations in developing their AI capabilities.
“We are working with industry and academia to develop and maintain the best AI workforce in the world through this programme, so British businesses have the skills and talent they need to thrive,” said Warman.
“Through our bold new National AI Strategy we will lead the charge in harnessing the power of AI to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time, such as climate change and global public health, cementing the UK’s position as an AI superpower.”
In other news: Siemens rolls out second round of virtual work experience programmes