QA triumphs at Microsoft’s global tech awards

UK Training provider wins Microsoft 2016 Worldwide YouthSpark Citizenship Partner of the Year Award and is named a finalist for Microsoft Learning Partner of Year

QA has been recognised by Microsoft as the global winner of the 2016 YouthSpark Citizenship Partner of the Year award and named Learning Partner of the Year finalist.

QA were selected as the winner of its category from a set of more than 2,500 nominations from 119 different countries. The award recognises QA for its incredible work and impact in the UK – empowering young people, providing them with the opportunity to gain IT experience and training that allows them to pursue fulfilling careers in technology. Youth unemployment remains a significant issue in the UK. Meanwhile, growth in the digital economy has created a huge surge in unfulfilled demand for IT professionals. QA's Microsoft Apprenticeship Program is addressing this issue by providing young people (ages 16-24), who are not attending University, with the opportunity to gain IT experience that will allow them to pursue fulfilling careers in technology. Thus far, the QA-Microsoft program has placed an amazing 6,000 young apprentices into job roles in over 1,000 UK companies. On top of this, this summer QA will place its 10,000th apprentice into employment – doing its bit to upskill future technologists and support the government’s drive to deliver 3 million apprentices by 2020. QA is proud to partner with Microsoft to empower young people from diverse backgrounds to pursue their dreams and achieve more through careers in technology.

Gavriella Schuster, General Manager, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft commented: "The 2016 Partner of the Year Award winners and finalists represent the most innovative and transformative work being done across our partner community. It is important to recognize and celebrate the value and opportunity these solutions create for our mutual customers. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and finalists on this tremendous achievement."

"I am delighted that QA has been recognised by Microsoft for our dedication to helping the UK's IT sector to address the IT skills gap", said William Macpherson, Chief Executive QA Group. “To receive such a prestigious award for the impact we are having at empowering young IT apprentices, is a true credit to our hard work and achievements. We will place our 10,000th apprentice into employment this summer and are so proud of the work we have done to ensure that our apprentices gain the experience they need to achieve flourishing IT careers".

About QA Group

Headquartered in London, QA Group is comprised of 4 fast-growing divisions- QA Learning, QA Apprenticeships, QA Consulting and QA Higher Education – all of which operate in the training and education space.

QA is one of the largest learning services organisations in the UK, developing skills and capabilities for everyone from apprentices to business leaders. With training centres throughout the UK QA delivers an exceptionally broad training curriculum to meet the needs of individuals and corporate businesses.

With a client base covering 80% of the FTSE 250, and employing over 300 instructors, subject matter experts and learning professionals across a portfolio of 1,500 courses, QA is currently the number one provider of technical and business training in the UK.

About QA Apprenticeships

QA Apprenticeships provide IT, tech and business apprenticeships. The first IT apprenticeships business to be graded Ofsted ‘Outstanding’, their apprenticeship programmes were described as “world-class”. QA’s programmes blend high-quality training with real-world experience in the workplace, and are designed to upskill local talent with training relevant to their job roles. Their wide range of programmes include industry-recognised qualifications and accreditations from City & Guilds, Microsoft, CompTIA, ACA and the APM.

About Microsoft Partner Awards

The annual awards recognize top Microsoft partners demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. Award winners and finalists from around the world will be recognized at the 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference taking place July 10–14, 2016, in Toronto, Canada.