CSC and TasTAFE improve graduate experience

CSC and TasTAFE have created a partnership that will enable TAFE students to gain real-world experience through working at CSC Hobart’s Centre of Excellence (COE).

As part of the TAFE course Cert IV in IT Support, students will complete a work placement program at a CSC Service Desk COE. This will provide them with four months of direct work experience so they are work-ready upon completion. In addition, the course has been specifically designed to suit an IT outsourcing environment.

All graduates in the program will be trained to a standard for which a global IT outsourcing company would recruit. They will also have translatable skills that can be used anywhere in the world.

Managing director at CSC Australia and New Zealand, Seelan Nayagam, said the program would also help continue to promote and enhance the calibre and skills of Tasmania’s technology workforce.

Part of CSC’s goal in Tasmania is to further build relationships with local educational institutions to help upskill students in technology and prepare them for real-world working conditions.

Kerryn Meredith-Sotiris, TasTAFE information technology education manager, said, “TasTAFE has worked closely with CSC to design and build a truly innovative Service Desk Cert IV course. Together we have established a framework to provide skills, experience and workplace knowledge to students undertaking this course. The course will equip graduates with the right skills to pursue their chosen career in the IT industry.”

The CSC COE was established in May 2015 to further advance its delivery capabilities across enterprise and government organisations, as well as to build a diversified services platform for customers. It went live and began taking service desk calls in December 2015.

The first course intake, which commenced in July 2016, will run through until December 2016. Students will participate in two weeks of preparation training at TasTAFE, followed by a week-long intensive workshop at CSC.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/George Tsartsianidis