Associated with the Recovery and Resilience Plan, this measure supports training in the digital area. It is budgeted at 445,000 euros and 75% is supported by the region’s budget.

Aimed at vocational schools, these courses are due to start this year and will focus on areas such as cybersecurity, programming languages and data analysis, as well as automation systems and visual no-code programming. Applications have been open since September 1 and will run until October 16, thus allowing schools to present their training models.

This measure aims at meeting the recruitment needs of companies working in these areas, which continue to emerge and settle in the Azores with qualified staff.

As far as the target audience is concerned, these courses aim to reach both working and unemployed people, as explained by the Regional Secretary for Youth, Professional Qualification and Employment.

According to the regional secretary, the “Digital Azores” measure will “train a highly qualified workforce in the digital area, with all the consequences and benefits that come with it".
Considering the possibility of attracting and retaining companies in the Azores, Maria João Carreiro also said that, through the regional budget, it has been possible to increase the hourly rate for training, reaching 80 euros in the face-to-face model, instead of the initial 40 euros.

In addition to the amount paid for each hour of teaching, the Regional Government of the Azores states it will also support unemployed trainees with a training grant, and with an increased grant if they are displaced from their island of residence.

For the school, there is additional support if it guarantees that the trainee, after finishing the training, has signed an employment contract in the field of Information and Communication Technologies.

In total, according to Maria João Carreiro, this is a certified training course that can take up to 600 hours and aims to include at least 65 beneficiaries.

"This training is aimed at active, employed and unemployed people aged 18 or over. It  is a training measure that involves two modalities: modular training, which is provided for in the national qualifications catalog, or tailor-made training, as long as it is duly certified," Maria João Carreiro told journalists.

New program to train active people in the Azores

For the director of the School of New Technologies of the Azores (ENTA), a measure like this is "an opportunity for vocational schools". According to João Lima, the program will be "studied in great detail", as it represents an opportunity for ENTA, as well as an opportunity to reach new students on other islands through e-learning.

This program is also positive, Lima stresses, given the difficulty that currently exists in training active people in the Azores. He also considers it "fundamental" to have partnerships with companies that operate in the ICT area, involving "companies so that they can understand in which digital areas they want to evolve and study".

João Lima recalls that, in recent years, the region has had a decrease in terms of students: “the archipelago lost close to 9,000 students in the last decade”.

"The schools are set up, they have perfectly professionalized staff in place, and there is a great need for training in the region, not just for the qualification of young people, but also for the qualification of ongoing training. If, on the one hand, we have a reduction in young people, on the other hand we have the opportunity to reach more adults," concludes the director of ENTA.