King’s College London and FourthRev Partner to Launch Next Career Accelerator in UX Design

• UX Design Career Accelerator programme open from mid-February for applicants seeking to start or move into a career in UX Design 
• The 6 months, online programme offers a unique model that consists of three courses and an Employer Project, blending the academic rigour of university education with industry experience through the input of partners such as Creative Navy, Dropbox, Atlassian and more to ensure learning reflects employer demands
• Career coaching available on a one-on-one basis

London, UK, 16 February: Online customer loyalty has irrevocably shifted post-pandemic, with users becoming increasingly conscious of the brands they support. As a result, UX design is now critical to business success in the online marketplace – not only to improve customer satisfaction but to curate meaningful and engaging experiences with digital products and services at the point of contact with consumers. 

However, there is a growing gap between the demand for these roles and the supply of people with the right skill set. This is why King’s College London is launching the King’s UX Design Career Accelerator in partnership with FourthRev, a digital education company.

Shaped by the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London, this Career Accelerator has a strong focus on the fundamentals of UX design and will help learners develop the interpersonal skills required to effectively work with engineers to create digital products and services that add value to customers’ lives. The courses emphasise how emerging technologies may bring about new opportunities for user experience, the associated ethical considerations these provoke, and how to develop the capabilities needed to approach user problems in these new contexts.

The project-based learning approach of this programme ensures that learners develop a portfolio of evidence by applying their new capabilities in industry-backed projects attached to each of the three courses. At the end of the programme, learners undertake a final Employer Project, whereby they work with peers to solve a real-world industry problem set by Creative Navy, a UX/UI design agency that ranks among the top 10 global UX design agencies. “We’re excited to be involved as an employer partner on this Career Accelerator. The employer project is a real life application of design practices; it’s the learner’s chance to do some real work and to get their hands dirty. It will be fun, but more importantly it will be precisely something employers are looking for,” says Dennis Lenard, CEO of Creative Navy.

Professor Marion Thain, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King’s College London  says: “We are proud of the incredible talent we have in this important area, placing us at the forefront of digital developments. Providing the skills and knowledge to enable us to live better with technology is an essential part of King’s mission, helping tackle the major challenges of the twenty-first century. This course ensures our expertise intersects with industry practice, driving positive change through inspiring interactions.” 

Professor Stuart Dunn, Head of Department and Professor of Spatial Humanities, Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, adds: “I am so excited that the Department of Digital Humanities is contributing to this Career Accelerator because it will make available to a much wider audience our 20+ years of experience in designing complex products and services, which we have created for diverse audiences in the humanities and social sciences.”

Mark Lester, Chief Partnerships Officer, FourthRev, added: “We’re delighted to be launching the second of our Career Accelerator programmes in partnership with King’s College London. This unique programme combines King’s global leadership in digital humanities and psychology with the experiences of veteran and junior UX designers. As such, it offers aspiring UX designers the chance to differentiate themselves by equipping them with rigorous approaches to understand users and the key technical and business skills required to make an impact as a UX designer. Whether you’re starting your career or looking to deepen your expertise in UX design, this programme provides you with the confidence and capabilities you need.” 

The university has also engaged leading experts in UX design from organisations including Creative Navy, Mailchimp, Dropbox, and Atlassian, throughout the design and build process. With a collaborative approach to course design, learners seeking a career in UX design benefit from the deep expertise of leading industry and technology partners who sit at the centre of the global customer ecosystem.

Kate Parker, an expert in Product and UX design, says “Co-designing the UX Design Career Accelerator has been a brilliant opportunity to help shape a future wave of UXers. The goal for me was to create a course that enables the learner not only to design and solve problems but to build an informed and balanced view of how UX fits into the broader ecosystem of product development – and I think we’ve done just that. The UX Design Career Accelerator is a brilliant combination of industry experience and world-class academia, bringing a new and practical approach to discovering more about UX and learning how to apply the skills in reality.” 

Learners are supported throughout by a Career Coach, who works with them on a one-to-one basis to identify and develop employability traits and personal skills needed to thrive in the industry. Upon completion of the course, students will receive a certificate of completion from King’s College London.

First programme starts on 29 May 2023. 

ENDS

About King’s College London

King’s College London is an internationally renowned university, delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. Dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society, King’s has a vision to make the world a better place. 

The university has a proud history of inspiring and supporting those who seek to solve the world’s most pressing problems. Today, King’s seeks to define the university of the future. From research that led to the discovery of the structure of DNA, to developing life-changing therapies and making math education available to underrepresented groups, King’s continues to have a transformational impact on society. World-changing ideas. Life-changing impact: kcl.ac.uk/news 

About FourthRev

FourthRev brings together leading universities, the world’s best technology companies and employer partners to deliver learning experiences with direct pathways to qualifications and jobs in the digital economy. Beginning in Melbourne in May 2019, they have since built courses with multiple global tech giants, including AWS, Salesforce and Tableau, delivered through university partnerships in the UK, Australia and the US.

FourthRev courses are currently available via 11 higher educational providers worldwide, including University of Coventry and FutureLearn, RMIT, University of Canberra and University of California, Irvine. The start-up is in conversation with a further 20 organisations, with plans to double the number of higher education partners in the next 12-18 months.

Explanation of Career Accelerators

Career Accelerators are differentiated by three core features: (1) Global tech companies and employer partners collaborate in the design and development of the programmes and projects to ensure learners acquire the latest technology and business requirements to hit the ground running in a commercial environment. (2) They are designed with world-leading universities to ensure learners develop skills in critical-thinking, problem solving and adaptability and can walk away with a highly-prized qualification. (3) They include extensive career support to help learners secure new employment, as well as potential opportunities to gain a job or internship from FourthRev’s network of employer partners and recruitment firms.