The Intensive Digital Training Program (bootcamp), aimed at people interested in working in the information technology industry, will award 400 scholarships for courses and subsidies to companies that organize training instances. The presentation, organized by the National Institute for Employment and Vocational Training (Inefop), was attended by the President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou.
The ceremony was held in the auditorium of the building attached to the Executive Tower; Also present were the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado; the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Pablo Mieres, and the director of Inefop, Pablo Darscht, as well as authorities from the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), the Uruguay XXI Institute and the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technologies (CUTI). ).
From Inefop it is explained that the information and communication technology (ICT) industry is developing continuously in Uruguay. The sector represents more than 3% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), but the shortage of technicians with advanced skills in software limits your possibilities. According to data from the CUTI, there are more than 3,000 vacant positions in this area.
For this reason, the Executive designed a program that offers intensive courses, called boot campswhich last between three and six months. In these instances, participants develop specific skills required and validated by the industry; the insertion level in previous editions of the plan reached 80%.
Minister Mieres stressed that the initiative converges with the needs of the labor market. Digitization is a central trend in the world, equivalent to what literacy meant in earlier times, he said.
The first phase will run for 24 months and will be financed with 65 million pesos from the Labor Reconversion Fund, administered by Inefop.
Darscht explained that this action is divided into two components. The first consists of offering scholarships to people from an unfavorable socioeconomic background interested in courses accredited by Inefop, so that they can pay tuition and cover their expenses while they participate, since the process requires high dedication. The goal is to reach 400 scholarships awarded at the end of the first phase, he reported.
To access the benefit, applicants must enroll in a bootcamp accredited. Currently four institutions are validated. It is planned to grant up to 100,000 pesos per person, Darscht said.
The second line of action is aimed at granting subsidies to companies that organize boot camps as part of your recruiting process. The goal is for 240 people to participate in these instances.
The agency expects that by the end of the first stage there will be a dozen boot camps “world class” accredited; and that some 1,000 people be trained in them. In addition, it is planned to design a sustainability scheme for the program, “based on an impact fund with identified investors.”
