Upskilling is not just a new qualification that can be added to your CV, but rather an opportunity to strengthen your attributes, and open doors for progression within your organisation.

There are many ways in which you can upskill, from short courses to apprenticeships. Since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in 2017, employers with an annual wage bill of over £3 million must pay into the levy, and can only claim money back through apprenticeships – meaning there is funding available to cover the cost of your training.

There are many advantages to upskilling, here are 3 reasons why we think you should:

Build on your skillset

As well as strengthening your existing skills, upskilling will also allow you to learn new information and abilities. As a result this will develop your talents further, and therefore enhance your future prospects.

Career progression

Training in new areas and developing skills increases your chances of landing promotions when they become available. Upskilling also shows your dedication for your work and career. This will not only enhance your CV, but also impress your employers. By constantly looking to improve and add new qualifications to your name, it shows that you are motivated and possess a strong work ethic.

Keep up to date with industry

Upskilling will allow you to take advantage of learning the latest industry trends and theories, which will keep you on top of your game. This can be particularly useful in industries that are evolving with the introduction of new technology.

At Weston College we can support you on your journey to improve. We offer over 50 apprenticeships, which can be tailored to suit your employer’s needs to fill skills gaps. To find out more, click here.

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In a time where timetables are packed out with lessons and supporting extra-curricular activities, lecturers time is more valuable than ever.

As we move further into a digital age, we’ve experienced a huge increase in the number of emails and repetitive digital communications that lecturers are having to deal with on a daily basis.

In response, we’ve teamed up with Purlos to co-design a digital assistant that will help to reduce the time spent answering repetitive questions from students.

Purlos’ mission is to drive efficiencies for academic institutions in order to focus on their students.

The purpose of this chat bot will be to answer personalised questions that learners send to lecturers over our secure sharepoint system: Microsoft Teams.

By pulling information from the internet, the state-of-the-art bot can answer questions where the answers are sometimes difficult and time consuming to find online.

Furthermore, the bot is particularly impressive when answering questions where the information is not online.

For instance, if someone asks “What time is our Maths lesson today?”, the bot will be able to send an automatic response based on the information that has been curated by the administrator.

This will therefore give learners a much faster response and save staff time by alleviating the need to respond to the same questions.

Additional benefits could also extend to distance learning where 1:1 contact is not often possible. This will enable more people to access the same help and information, whatever their circumstances. Approximately 100 students recently had the opportunity to have a trial run of the software.

Jon Hofgartner, Assistant Director in Technology Learning Resources Skills & Progression, added “Weston College offers a large range of services, support and resources for learners.

“Knowing how, when and where to access these when needed is where we feel a digital assistant can help our learners .

“This development aims to help learners find answers to common questions about their time at College as well as signpost key services.

“We’re also adding features to connect students with online videos from LinkedIn Learning to help them develop a range of skills and knowledge to give them the edge.”