Department runs computer coding workshop for refugee and asylum seeker students

A successful series of computer coding workshops for refugee and asylum seekers in Oxfordshire concluded at Oxford Continuing Education last term. These sessions, focusing on an introduction to Python programming, were the second instalment in a series of educational workshops for refugees and asylum seekers. The project has been funded by a £20,000 bid awarded to three Department members from Oxford University’s Diversity Fund. 

Dr Ben Grant, Departmental Lecturer in English Literature, organised these workshops in collaboration with Asylum Welcome, a charitable organisation offering information, advice and practical support to asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants living in Oxfordshire. The sessions are intended to enhance the skills and confidence of refugees and asylum seekers resident in Oxfordshire. 

Programming skills are seen as a vitally important asset in labour markets globally, with a Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum predicting that software and applications development will be the fourth fastest growing job between now and 2030. Broadening digital access is expected to be one of the driving forces of this growth, and one student at the workshops explained why they wanted to take part: ‘I wanted to have a better idea about coding – like a foundation – so I can see whether or not I could be able to self-learn.’ 

Equipped with a new set of skills, the students described their ambitions for the future, with one student hoping to ‘do the GCSE [in computer science programming], then maybe site security.’ Another explained, ‘you don’t need a degree or something to be a programmer, you can self-learn, so I’m going to check out the links that they’ve given us and see how best I can follow that, try and see if I can change my life – I could be a web developer, or a data scientist.’