The world of work is changing. Some have coined this the ‘fourth industrial revolution' and is being fuelled by constant transformation and evolving technologies. The reality is that, according to the Work Economic Forum, 65% of children in primary schools today, will work in jobs that don't yet exist. As an employer of IT graduates, Arch Retail Systems has seen an increasing shortages of IT graduates. The demand for IT skills quite simply exceeds the available supply, and this gap is growing year-on-year. This requirement for IT expertise is not specific to IT companies alone, and as technology is pervasively spreading, organisations in all sectors need IT-smarts. IT is intrinsic to many spheres of our daily lives.

"With the advancing needs of the future employer, we have not seen an equal alignment in education to equip our graduates. Without this parallel shift in education, the gap in the supply of skilled staff continues to increase", says Helen Behm (HR Manager at Arch Retail Systems).

One school that is changing the face of education is Generations Schools. They are equipping students with the practical knowledge and hands-on skills for achieving success in a demanding workplace. Generations Schools, in partnership with leading European Universities, is offering pedagogical flexibility, allowing students the choice of main stream and applied sciences subjects.

Arch Retail Systems is proud to announce the establishment of close collaboration with Generations aimed at promoting a real-time working environment experience, ensuring students have workplace readiness on graduation. A formal bursary arrangement was announced where Arch is sponsoring three promising learners annually – the strategy with this is to ensure market IT requirements are addressed in a practical way, but also as part of the agreement, these learners are guaranteed employment. The bursaries were recently handed over to the three successful candidates by David Geldenhuys, Marketing Executive, Arch Retail Systems. He commented as follows during the ceremony: "We at Arch have a slogan that says, Arch Passion Your Edge, and we believe our involvement with Generations, who has a passion for developing young talent, will be hugely beneficial not only to the two

The bursaries were recently handed over to the three successful candidates by David Geldenhuys, Marketing Executive, Arch Retail Systems. He commented as follows during the ceremony: "We at Arch have a slogan that says, Arch Passion Your Edge, and we believe our involvement with Generations, who has a passion for developing young talent, will be hugely beneficial not only to the two partners, but to the industry at large."