World Youth Skills Day 2021: Celebrating adaptability
Today (15 July) marks World Youth Skills Day, a UN-designated opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the importance of equipping young people with skills for employment.
The theme for 2021 focuses on ‘Reimagining Youth Skills Post Pandemic’ and seeks to pay tribute to the resilience and creativity of youth throughout the challenging context of the COVID-19 crisis. The annual event also aims to highlight the importance of the technical and vocational learning sector, which plays a central role in the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
How does this relate to ICAS?
The World Economic Forum has estimated that by 2025 40% of current workers’ skills are expected to change in response to new labour market demands and rapid digital innovation. This emphasises the ever-increasing significance of skills development and the critical role which training will play in preparing young professionals for changing skills demands in the workplace.
Throughout this challenging time, ICAS has remained dedicated to equipping our CA Students with the tools to adapt and progress, no matter what the future holds. Constant innovation is a key priority in our role as an educator and examiner, and we ensure that our bespoke syllabus is catered to providing Students with specialist skills and expertise. ICAS made a long-term strategic commitment to the skills development of its Students in the launch of the CA Student Value Proposition in 2020.
Supporting CA Students
ICAS recognises the challenges associated with the changes made to our learning delivery models as a result of the pandemic. In line with World Youth Skills Day, we are proud to celebrate the incredible adaptability of our CA Students, who have embraced online learning to support the continuity of their education, assessment and skills development.
With the recent announcement that ICAS will continue with online learning and remote assessment until the end of December 2021, we would like to draw attention to our newly launched Student Assistance Programme. This suite of wellbeing services has been introduced to further support our CA Students with a wide range of issues, particularly managing change and coping with exam pressure in the context of remote learning.
Continued support is also available in the form of the CA Connect mentoring scheme, which facilitates networking and access to career progression advice as Students embark on their lifelong learning journeys as CA Members.
As we observe World Youth Skills Day this year, ICAS pledges to continue its focus on equipping our young CA Students with the skills to learn, grow and advance together as we adapt to the COVID-19 recovery process.