How educators can help meet the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution – Danny Wild

Our digital era – where technology is ubiquitous, at home and at work – is widely regarded as being the world’s fourth industrial revolution. While the first revolution involved a rapid transition from rural, labour-intensive modes of working to steam power and factory-based production, our age has seen emerging technologies like AI, robotics, genome editing and cloud computing have profound impacts on nearly every facet of our lives.

Like all such periods of transition, this time offers both opportunities and risks, particularly in the workplace. Chief among the opportunities is the scope to land a rewarding and well-paid career in a fascinating, fast-evolving field; while the downsides, of course, include the loss of ‘traditional’ jobs and of people getting left behind as innovation sweeps away what came before.

It is our task, as education and training providers, to ensure as many people as possible reap the benefits – and that no-one gets left out. So when we began designing our new £22m Harrogate College campus, which opens later this year, the digital sector – and the facilities we would need to train people for it – was among our foremost priorities.

As was the need to form even closer alliances with the rapidly increasing number of local employers who rely on technology and suitably trained workers, to make sure we are meeting current, and anticipating future, needs.

Meeting local and regional skills needs

This sector has huge potential but we know from working closely with local businesses, and from recent research including a 2025 Labour Market Report commissioned by York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, that our area is suffering from a significant skills shortfall.

The report notes that there is currently a 15 per cent skills gap, representing around 6,000 employees who need additional training, with the problem most acute in digital and analytical skills.

At the same time, local employers in general are struggling to find suitably skilled recruits to fill 25 per cent of vacancies, especially in technical, professional and trade occupations, even as national unemployment rates are rising. The Office for National Statistics figures show this is particularly affecting younger people – with the number of unemployed 18 to 24 year olds increasing to 85,000 in the three months to October 2025.

There is therefore a major job to be done across several fronts for colleges like ourselves and fellow members of the York and North Yorkshire Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF): to deliver more ‘work ready’, appropriately skilled students; to help businesses train up their existing employees; and, in doing so, create the conditions for more jobs to be created.

York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith publicly recognised the importance of the technology sector to the local economy when he unveiled his £2.4m Skills Innovation Fund in 2025.

Announcing the money, he said the programmes it will support – which includes a partnership of all of the area’s further education colleges – would “not only address skills needs for the tech jobs of the future, but…also ensure that opportunity will reach people from all walks of life”.

That is a goal which we, as a college committed to helping people flourish regardless of background or age, are naturally aligned to.

Investing in facilities, courses and future talent

To help achieve it, we will need cutting-edge facilities that can keep up with advancements in technology – which is why our new building will include eight digital suites and a Virtual Reality studio. But we, and our fellow FE colleges, will also need to tailor our courses and teaching to ensure they give our students the targeted knowledge and real-world experience they need to be of most value.

That is why we will be expanding our digital courses, which already cover Creative Digital and Multimedia Production & Design, Creative Media and Digital Functional Skills (for adults), to include Digital Software Development and Digital Support and Security T Levels from 2027.

T Levels, which are equivalent to three A levels, represent the gold standard when it comes to technical education. By blending classroom-learning with industry work placements, these qualifications ensure that students have got some quality experience under their belt – and formed relationships with local employers – by the time they complete their studies.

We know from the work our students are already doing with so many businesses how valuable such experience can be.

That is something we are looking forward to taking to a whole other level through our brand new campus. The state-of-the-art facilities that are being created for it (which will also include a replica hospital ward, advanced construction centre and a renewable energy technology base) have been designed to ensure we can produce the skilled workers North Yorkshire needs and deserves, now and in the future.

Principal of Harrogate College, Danny Wild