TCS to provide 1,000 graduate internships in the UK to develop digital skills

Tata Consultancy Services today said it would provide 1,000 young British university graduates the opportunity to spend a year training and working for TCS at its Innovation Labs and software development centres across India through a new partnership with the British Council. 

The step is aimed at developing local talent in the UK, and providing young British graduates an opportunity  to learn digital and business skills at one of the IT industry's most successful businesses.

TCS is one of the UK's biggest digital employers with over 11,000 employees working across 30 locations in London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds, Ipswich, Norwich, Peterborough, Swindon, Redhill and Liverpool.

Employment opportunities in the UK IT sector are set to grow at almost twice the UK average employment rate between now and 2020, reveals a projection by Tech Partnership, a network of employers creating the skills for the digital economy.

According to independent think tank Social Market Foundation, the UK faces a shortfall in domestic supply of around 40,000 graduates every year in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The new TCS-British Council partnership aims to address this challenge by helping to foster the next generation of digital talent in the UK and provide British employers with the graduates they will need to succeed in the future.

British Council chief executive Sir Ciarán Devane said, ''This partnership marks a great new phase in the UK's developing relationship with India.  It is fantastic that a thousand young graduates from across the UK will be able to benefit from India's expertise in digital technology and also gain invaluable international experience working at TCS, one of the world's largest technology consultancy organisations. India is emerging as a global superpower and initiatives such as this will enable the next generations in both countries to engage, learn and grow with each other.''

N Chandrasekaran, chief executive officer and managing director, Tata Consultancy Services, ''As a technology partner to many large British businesses, we see their desire to exploit new and exciting opportunities presented by digital technologies. However, all too often, our customers are unable to do this quickly as the UK talent pool needs knowledge and training in these new technologies. By providing 1,000 British graduates with the opportunity to work and train with TCS, we hope to help address this skills shortage and give UK employers access to the digital expertise that they will need to compete and succeed in the hyper-connected Digital Economy.''

One thousand new internships will be provided between 2016 and 2020 and will be managed jointly by the British Council and TCS.

Applications for the internships will open in the coming months, with the first batch to commence in India in the summer 2016.

Each internship will last 12 months and will give graduates from British universities an opportunity to work for TCS in India, where they will receive training in the technical and commercial skills needed for a career in software development, global consulting, business process management or human resources.

This new commitment is part of TCS' wider investment in training for its workforce, with over 100,000 employees being trained in emerging digital technologies this year alone.

Between 2015 and 2020, the British Council's Generation UK-India aims to support up to 25,000 young people coming from the UK to travel to India to gain experience, exposure and skills.

Since its launch in November 2014 by Greg Clark, UK minister for universities, science and cities and Indian human resource development minister Smriti Irani, Generation UK-India has received over 7,000 registration, with over 2,600 completed applications for the first 500 places.

A leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organisation, Tata Consultancy Services has been operating in the UK since 1975 and works with some of the country's biggest businesses including 33 of the FTSE 100.

Tata Consultancy Services' partnership with the British Council is the latest in a number of digital skills initiatives within the UK.

As part of its IT Futures programme, TCS is already working with UK schools, universities and the not-for-profit sector to help encourage young people to pursue a career in IT.

Since its inception in 2013, the IT Futures programme has reached over 23,000 young people in the UK.