Industry partnership: Microsoft

Co-designed with Microsoft and prominent services firms Avanade, Capgemini, KPMG and EY, the course integrates technology expertise with practical consulting skills, incorporating industry case studies and actual implementation experiences.  

With a key focus on the business uses of Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Power Platform, the course empowers students to build their foundational knowledge of technology solutions while gaining real-world experience by using them to design solutions for clients.  

The result is a learning experience that prepares graduates for a range of functional consultant roles, whether they want to work with Microsoft’s partners or directly with its clients. 

For Microsoft, this means a high-value talent pipeline of functional consultants trained in the application of Dynamics 365 for organisations.

“There is a huge demand for functional consultants. This doesn’t seem like it’s slowing down any time soon,” says Capgemini’s Vice President Business Applications, Josephine Poirrier.

Producing skilled, qualified graduates who can move immediately into these roles, the Graduate Certificate demonstrates how industry-focused education solutions can benefit industry leaders like Microsoft as well as the broader sector.

Transdisciplinary thinking key to talent development

Key to the success of the Graduate Certificate has been understanding that the core skills of functional consultants are not restricted to technology.

“Functional consultants come from wide and varied backgrounds,” says Poirrier. “They don’t need to come from computer science.”

By partnering with UTS, Microsoft was able to draw on the university’s industry-leading approaches to integrated education.

The result is a truly transdisciplinary offering. It brings together domain experts from across UTS to provide students with the variety of skills and knowledge required to work in functional consulting.  

In practice this means combining expertise from business and IT with human-centric skills, such as strategic communication and collaboration.

“It’s important you know how to communicate and get your point across. Creative thinking skills and problem-solving skills are super important,” says Cathy Xu, Power Platform Architect at Microsoft.

According to Avanade Functional Consultant Prajwal Bhetwal, consultants can be required to do multiple things on a project. “Sometimes you have to wear the hat of a planner, sometimes you have to wear the hat of a designer, sometimes you have to wear the hat of a tester.”

The training students receive through the Graduate Certificate reflects the variety of demands made of consultants out in the field, fusing theory with practical experience.  

Expanding access to digital skills

While the Graduate Certificate is a standalone, premium learning experience, it builds on years of successful collaboration between Microsoft and UTS.

When Microsoft launched its global skilling initiative in 2020, the two organisations explored a range of options to improve the accessibility and delivery of tech skilling opportunities.

Aimed at expanding access to digital skills, especially for people impacted by job losses during the initial waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, the skilling initiative resonated and aligned with UTS’s enterprise learning strategy.

This led to the creation of the Microsoft Skills and Certifications Bootcamp.

Designed in collaboration, these short, immersive programs offered students the opportunity to advance their tech skills, access resources and gain valuable certifications.

Existing UTS students could take advantage the two-week bootcamps – initially for free, later at a low cost – augmenting their education to become proficient in the technology tools required in the workforce.

The success of the bootcamps piloted with UTS resulted in Microsoft rolling out the program on a national scale. Microsoft Skills and Certifications Bootcamp are now being delivered through 30 universities and education providers across the country.

UTS continues to offer the bootcamps twice a year, with more than 900 students completing them to date. The program offers high-value, low-cost skills development, broadly upskilling the workforce for the benefit of Microsoft and the wider industry.