The Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge Awards

Last night, Peter and I attended the Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge (@DragonsApp on Twitter) Awards at the University of Hertfordshire. Briefly, the challenge takes groups of students from local schools and colleges, pairs them with a local business “dragon” and a local charity and challenges them to turn £100 into £1,000+ for the charity.

Six of the 25 teams from St Albans, Welwyn, Harpenden and Hatfield schools and colleges were invited to give short PowerPoint presentations about their fundraising projects last night. And WOW, what a fantastic job they all did! I can’t even imagine being able to get up in front of hundreds of people and deliver such a professional, clever and engaging presentation as Team Nebula (the winning team for best presentation) at my age, let alone at 16-17 years old!

We also heard from the Saracens Rugby Club CEO Edward Griffiths: “What do you think is most important to a successful business…? Money? Yeah, you’re all thinking it, well- you’re all wrong! It’s people.” And he’s right. It especially rang true for this challenge. The sheer number of people involved- from the schools and students to the business dragons and the charities, not to mention the communities in which these fundraising events took place- all coming together to donate time and money for not just one, but 25 different charities is rather amazing to think about. In fact, the total amount raised was almost £35,000. In five months. Incredible!

We were delighted to have been involved in helping with the pr for such an awesome cause and wish all the very best to project manager Penny Mortimer and the team at CVS St Albans who work so hard to make this initiative work and, since its inception in 2010, have grown it each year. And will hopefully continue to do so until it takes the country by storm!

Britain needs you (to be a computer scientist)

At PRPR we have had a long relationship with Professor Andy Hopper and the Cambridge University Computer Lab that he heads up. As an ex-electronics engineer myself, Andy never ceases to inspire me when I visit the Lab.

Andy is passionate about computing and its vital role in shaping the world we live in. His current focus is Computing for the Future of the Planet. So it is not surprising that Andy is keen to encourage more students to study computer science and reassure them that job prospects are some of the best in the country. However, his efforts are not helped by the recent publication of Government figures from HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) that seem to suggest that computer science has one of the worst graduate employment rates.

Andy believes the statistics in the report are misleading because it combines Computer Science – a rigorous academic subject underpinning next generation technologies – with a whole host of non-degree level applied and vocational IT courses where competition for jobs is much higher. In his experience the demand by businesses for good computer science degree students is higher than ever. He is concerned that these misguided statistics put off the next crop of school students currently deciding on their careers.

Andy’s comments follow criticism from Google CEO, Eric Schmidt on the teaching of computer science in UK schools. He was shocked to learn that computer science isn’t even taught as standard and the IT curriculum focuses on teaching how to use software, with no insight into how it’s made.

Computer Science education will be key if the UK is to continue to create and grow global successes such as ARM and Autonomy. It is vital that we educate and encourage the next generation of top class computer scientists to help fuel our economy.