Skills Bootcamp: Aspiring Leaders for Digital Transformation - 2024/25 Entry

Overview

Skills Bootcamps are intensive short-term training courses, supported by the West Midlands Combined Authority, that provide you with an invaluable opportunity to gain sought-after, sector-specific skills as part of the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee to help everyone gain skills for life.

The Aspiring Leaders for Digital Transformation (ALDT) Bootcamp is a comprehensive, 60-hour guided learning program designed to equip aspiring leaders with the skills and confidence to lead in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

Personal and Professional Development: This boot camp is designed to help individuals understand and develop their leadership abilities. It focuses on self-awareness, confidence, and the personal growth necessary for leadership roles.
Inclusive Leadership Skills: Participants will learn about inclusive leadership strategies, which are essential for modern workplaces that value diversity, equity, and inclusion. They will gain insights into promoting a positive and inclusive work culture.
Practical Skill-Building: The boot camp emphasises hands-on skill development through modules like "Design Thinking" and "Apply Leadership Skills," which include finding business opportunities, problem-solving, and collaborating effectively.
People-Centred Digital Transformation: The program prepares participants to lead teams through digital transformation, focusing on motivating and inspiring team members to adopt new technologies effectively.
Supportive Mentoring and Networking: The course offers mentoring sessions, small group work, and wrap-around support, helping learners build relationships and receive guidance from experienced professionals.
Certification and Career Advancement: Completing the course leads to an Aspiring Leaders Bootcamp Skills Certificate, which enhances credibility and employability for leadership roles in digital transformation.
Structured Assessment and Progress Tracking: Through continuous assessment, mentoring feedback, and outcome tracking, participants can monitor their growth and readiness for leadership positions.

This course is not open to International students.

What's covered in this course?

This program is especially beneficial for individuals looking to strengthen their leadership capabilities, improve their adaptability to digital changes, and become better prepared for leadership roles in today’s rapidly transforming digital landscape.

Delivered by Birmingham City University, this program combines in-person sessions with online support, providing a flexible learning experience ideal for employed professionals over 16 weeks.

Each module is facilitated by BCU's experienced faculty and enhanced with insights from industry leaders. The program also offers mentoring and wrap-around support to help learners overcome barriers, ensuring they can apply their new skills confidently and effectively in their careers.

Program Highlights:

Understanding Self: Participants create their learning and needs development plan in an engaging, practical, and supported learning environment. Using self-assessment tools, they are equipped with a better understanding of themselves as leaders
Understanding Leadership: Participants learn about the different leadership styles, learn practical aspects and empower themselves with strategies to lead in complex landscapes.
Leadership Skills: Training focuses on building leadership confidence through skills development, with practical mentoring to help participants implement these skills in real-world scenarios.
Inclusive Leadership: Participants explore strategies for leading inclusively, encouraging diverse voices and team collaboration and bringing in industry experts to deliver and discuss case studies.
Design Thinking: This hands-on workshop empowers learners to apply design thinking principles to uncover business opportunities and foster innovation.
Breaking Barriers: This engaging session teaches strategies for breaking barriers and building enablers in participants' journeys. Led by industry experts, it gives participants a practical guide to recognising opportunities and mitigating risks.
People-Centred Digital Transformation: The Digital Readiness Health Check toolkit teaches participants how to motivate and support teams in embracing new digital technologies.
Mentorship: Up to 4 hours of wrap-around coaching will guide participants through their leadership journeys. This is an opportunity to discuss individual challenges and risk mitigation strategies. You will take charge of your learning in this course by tailoring your education to focus on your career goal and design specialism.

Why Choose Us?

Delivered by renowned experts from academia and industry, providing the latest knowledge, strategies, and case studies on leadership for digital transformation and sustainable development.
Learn a holistic leadership framework appropriate for a competitive and ever-changing working environment, focusing on self-development and building strategies to expedite your leadership trajectory.
Upon completion of the course, every graduate will be awarded an official Birmingham City University Certificate of Achievement to recognise their accomplishment and with which to evidence their skills to future employers.

Fees & How to Apply

Aspiring Leadership for Digital Transformation invites professional services staff, specifically female and black and minority ethnic groups, who want to progress their careers to the next leadership level. This could be either through managing larger or regional teams or increasing responsibility and remit within a digital transformation project within their business.

The boot camp will upskill/re-skill aspiring leaders to progress into a leadership/management role or expand their business and gain confidence in leading their team/organisation through the transformation.

Essential entry requirements

Meet the Department for Education's Skills for Life eligibility requirements
GCSE English Language and Mathematics at grade C / 4 or above
Equivalent level 2 or above qualifications can be accepted
Be in employment or registered self-employment in a relevant sector
Provide proof of a Right To Work in the UK or a Share Code for international workers
Either live or work in the West Midlands or looking to increase work in the region
Entry requirements must have been achieved before or at the point of enrolment.

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Course fees

Employers who wish to upskill their personnel using the Skills Bootcamp programme will be charged dependent on business size:

Registered self-employed/sole trader: free of charge
SME (10% of total course value): £312
Large organisation (30% of total course value): £936

The remainder will be funded by the Department for Education.

Please email Dr. Mersha Aftab for more details.

Course duration

Induction day: 9 January 2025

Start date: 17 January 2025

8 day-long sessions over 14 weeks. The teaching days are Friday and Saturday, beginning on 17-18 January 2025, with subsequent sessions being held on 7-8 February 2025, 28th Feb - 1 March 2025, and 21-22 March 2025.
Mentorship and wrap-around coaching is provided via MS Teams.
Sessions are recorded and accessible for additional learners throughout the course.
Access to on-campus facilities, labs and more comprehensive student support.
Location: Parkside Building and Curzon Building, City Centre Campus, Birmingham City University.

Course in Depth

How you will be assessed

The boot camp has 4 learning objectives that need to be completed:

Personal and Professional Development Plan - Visualise their tailored Learning Needs Development Plan, identifying potential opportunities for career growth and milestones. Using reflection and individual psychometric tools to identify skills & competence gaps and opportunities. (Block 1)
Build Leadership Confidence - Choose the most suitable leadership style and build a leader persona. Learn the techniques of collaboration to gain a competitive advantage for their ideas using Design Thinking. (Block 2)
Implementation of inclusive leadership – Learn and apply strategies to be an inclusive and people-centred leader. (Block 3)
Readiness to change – Understand approaches to leading and managing digital transformation within their teams. (Block 4)

Facilities & Staff

Curzon with Millennium Point and Parkside

Our Facilities

When you join Birmingham City University, the first thing you will notice is the exceptional quality of our campuses. With an investment of over £400 million across our buildings and facilities, we are committed to giving you the very best learning environment to help shape your experience.

You will be based in our multi-million pound Parkside building – a state of the art facility located within our City Centre Campus. Here you will have full access to our recently upgraded, high spec CAD (Computer-Aided-Design) workstations situated within our dedicated computer labs and open access areas.

You’ll also benefit from:

Design studios
Physical and digital library
Dedicated social spaces
Cafés
Bike storage
Refreshments and catering will be provided on certain days

Our staff

Dr Mersha Aftab

MA Design Management Course Director

Mersha believed that most effective teaching happens when students have space, which allows them to ask questions, make mistakes, and learn from their mistakes. By creating collaborative and interactive sessions that are similar to working outside of academia, with industry projects and live case studies, her sessions give students critical...

More about Mersha

Dr Sara Gracey

Senior Lecturer in Leadership and HRM

Dr Sara Gracey’s lecturing and teaching are in the areas of leadership and organisational behaviour, with a particular emphasis on understanding the role of supervisory leadership in generating discretionary effort behaviours at work.

More about Sara

Nicholas Irvin

Senior Lecturer in Design Management

Nick is lecturer in Design Management and this programme attracts students from a diverse range of design and non-design disciplines from the UK and overseas. The programme focuses on the strategic value of design and its importance within a business context, which aims to develop the confidence; skills and knowledge for work in industry.

More about Nicholas

Enquiries