Microsoft creates digital skills academy for 250,000 Greek civil servants

A digital skills academy certified by Microsoft is being created by the technology giant in collaboration with the National Center for Public Administration and Self-Government (EKDDA). It is the next step in their existing “alliance”, which has already led to the digital training of 4,500 civil servants, accelerating the goal of training a total of 250,000 civil servants by 2025 with resources from the Recovery Fund.

Paving the way both in the digital era of public administration, and in the international trend that emphasizes continuous training and certification, EKDDA is evolving into an academy for civil servants using Microsoft technologies. Dramatically increasing the dynamics of cooperation, EKDDA trainers will be properly prepared and certified by Microsoft to run training seminars and special seminars for public servants

“The existing cooperation is dynamic and evolving, in conjunction with a relatively recent ministerial decision based on which we gave the participation in these digital skills training programs the advantage of scoring”, noted, yesterday, during the relevant announcements, the Minister of the Interior, Mr. Makis Voridis. In fact, retroactivity has also been foreseen for the 500 civil servants who have already been certified in the programs in question, out of a total of 4,500 trainings.

“The big picture is the digital reform of the State. One strand is programs and digital projects, but the most important is who will run these projects. If we don’t have people to support projects like HRMS, then we haven’t done anything,” said the minister, noting that the initiative is open to other interested companies that can follow Microsoft’s good example.

Technology for all

As the managing director of Microsoft Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Mr. Theodosis Michalopoulos, commented, the employees of the Greek State are given an opportunity for the certification to count in their professional career, which is also a request for the private sector. Having reached the goal of 5,000 trainings in digital skills within two years, the certified trainers’ academy puts the program into an acceleration phase, so that the Public’s workforce is ready more quickly and efficiently to respond to the rapid digitization of public administration.

“Technology has no meaning if it is not inclusive. So we’re looking to educate as many people as possible so they can use our platforms in the best possible way,” noted Mr. Michalopoulos. Referring to the course of training programs and in the private sector, where Greece had the lowest share of certifications in Europe, he noted that this is starting to change. To date, 40 thousand of the 100 thousand certifications set as Microsoft’s five-year goal have been completed. “The interconnection of our programs with the labor market is particularly satisfactory. There is a response,” he noted.

Permanent training mechanism

The collaboration with Microsoft is just one dimension of the huge training program for all 250,000 public administration employees, which is financed with 30 million euros from the Recovery Fund and has a completion date of 2025. It is noted that this concerns a set of modern skills , including digital competence. Given the size of the project, other categories, such as the police, could participate through special programs.

Mr. Voridis mentioned two more axes of the ambitious project. The first concerns the training and certification of civil servants in the administration of specific projects (project management). As for the second, it concerns the establishment of a permanent training mechanism that will be linked to the annual evaluation system of civil servants. The skills to be improved will be directly linked to the training they will receive from EKDDA.

Voucher for employees

For her part, the president of EKDDA, dr. Paraskevi Dramaliotis, emphasized that as the state changes, so do the civil servants who are very receptive to training. It is expected that the motivation of scoring will raise the interest in the certification, which is particularly demanding. He clarified that the certifications are provided at no cost to civil servants.

The programs in question are prepared according to the standards of the EKDDA, that is, through an invitation for those interested. Priority is given to those who have some interface with IT and is then addressed to all the rest. After attending the training program, which has been built in collaboration with Microsoft and its certified trainers, the participants receive the EKDDA certificate. Then, they also receive a voucher to take exams for Microsoft’s international certification without financial burden.

After EKDDA becomes the first academy for civil servants in Microsoft technologies, it is now being discussed, as the head of the body revealed, to also become an examination center exclusively for civil servants. A venture with several specifications and legal issues. Also, after the cloud part, there are plans to proceed with corresponding trainings in office applications as well.