AirAsia Academy aims to produce 6,000 graduates annually to meet digital economy demand

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 (Bernama) -- AirAsia Academy aims to produce at least 6,000 graduates each year to help meet market demands in the digital economy. 

Capital A Bhd president (ventures) Aireen Omar said as an industry player, it understands the skill sets that are needed by industries and what needs to be done in order to address the missing gap, namely on digital marketing, software engineers, product designers, cloud infrastructure experts, cybersecurity experts and data scientists. 

“These are the talents in demand in the digital economy and we create a core curriculum to make sure that the skill sets they obtain will land them jobs.

“We work with technology heads of departments and Google to ensure they are competent,” she told Bernama at a letter of intent signing ceremony between AirAsia Academy and MyDIGITAL Corporation here today.

The agreement outlines the collaborative efforts between the two parties in supporting and achieving the national outcomes targeted under the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MDEB) and the 4IR Policy.

The academy will also provide highly accessible and affordable courses which cover both technical and non-technical areas of business that are available online while enabling access to Capital A’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“We open the academy to upskill and cross-train AirAsia Allstars (employees), but we decided to open it for the public so that they can also benefit from our programmes.

“So far, over 5,000 individuals have acquired digital talents through the AirAsia Academy, including 150 unemployed university graduates who learned data, software and digital marketing skills,” said Aireen.

Meanwhile, MyDIGITAL Corporation chief executive officer Fabian Bigar said the partnership with AirAsia Academy is intended to encourage Malaysian talents, including women and girls, to develop their skills to be innovators of technology solutions and not just users of technology.

“With the flexibility to learn at your own pace, time and location, more talents shall benefit from the initiative,” he said. 

Launched in October 2020, AirAsia Academy has worked with various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to reskill their staff and weather technologies in software engineering, blockchain and data.

The academy also set up the BINA Digital Programme in collaboration with Google to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) digitise their businesses where over 1,000 SMEs have been trained thus far.

-- BERNAMA