Digital Jersey to stop courses after funding cut

CEO Tony Moretta said he and his organisation "fundamentally disagrees" with the decision

The body that promotes Jersey's digital industry has said it would have to cut back some of its courses, after funding was cut by the government.

Digital Jersey, which offers a number of courses to help islanders understand how to use technology, said it was facing a £400,000 shortfall next year from the Education and Skills Department.

The government said while basic digital skills and AI integration were commonly identified as key areas for upskilling, "many free online resources are already available".

However, Digital Jersey CEO Tony Moretta said he and his organisation "fundamentally disagrees" with that stance.

He said "after this year, we will have to use our core funding to run as many courses as we can".

"We will have to focus more on the AI-related courses and drop a lot of the courses we are running now.

"We act on a commissioning model, we use people in industry to teach courses so we have to pay money to those tutors.

"So yes, we are going to have less money to pay for those organisations and individuals to teach those courses."

'Advanced skills priority'

The government said: "The Better Business Support Package (BBSP) includes grants specifically for projects that improve productivity and skills development.

"Consequently, funding is already available to support businesses to invest in basic digital skills training for their staff.

"In their decision-making, the panel [that decided where money should go] distinguished between basic digital skills and more advanced capabilities like data analytics, which require deeper technical knowledge.

"These advanced skills have been identified as a priority for the next wave of funding allocations."