UQ program closes Australia’s digital skills gap in partnership with Mendix low-code platform

3 Jun 2022

A University of Queensland program is educating 500 business students a year in low-code to equip the workforce of the future with the digital skills to succeed in their careers.

Thanks to a partnership with Mendix – a division of Siemens – the UQ Business School course gives post-graduate students with no coding experience an industry certification that showcases their ability to develop apps using Mendix’s low-code development platform.

UQ Business School award-winning lecturer Associate Professor Sabine Matook said digital skills were no longer a ‘nice to have’, but a necessity in the business world.

“Digitalisation has forever changed how we work, and my students, upon graduation, will enter these digital workplaces,” she said.

“Reports show that data and digital skills are the fastest-growing skills required by employers, and according to research by Gartner, by 2024, 80 percent of tech products and services are predicted to be built by people who are not technology professionals.

“Organisations hiring graduate business analysts want well-rounded individuals who can build apps – even if they aren’t required to do so in the role – but students were lacking these practical skills.”

Dr Matook has been partnering with Mendix to pioneer a new model of work-integrated learning: one that produces work-ready graduates while benefiting broader society.

Tim Srock, Mendix, with Sabine Matook, UQ Business School

CEO of Mendix Tim Srock said the collaboration meant, together, Mendix and the UQ Business School were helping shape entrepreneurs of the future and equip them with tools to build their business.

“If you want to build a platform business, it’s all about a community. The most important thing is building a strong developer community and have advocates like Sabine help take the message out and actually help students to learn skills that they need to learn for the future,” he said.

“What you see in the market is that every company is becoming a software company because they need to think digitally first.

“Low-code is a future skill you need to have to succeed in the job market. It’s not just an IT subject, it’s about making it accessible to a variety of people. We have a chance to not only upskill but reskill.”

Students in the 2022 cohort developed an app for the not-for-profit Brisbane Living Heritage that showcases to residents and visitors Brisbane’s rich heritage ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

Contact: Dr Sabine Matook, s.matook@business.uq.edu.au.

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