Free Courses by Alicante City Council in Digital Competencies

The Department of Strategic Plans and European Projects of the Alicante City Council has received over 400 applications for the 16 free digital competency courses launched for the first quarter of 2025, aimed at reducing the digital divide. Of these requests, more than 300 have been processed at the Edusi Office for the entire city, and over a hundred from the North Zone Office. More than half of all applications have secured a place, while the rest are on a waiting list.

These initiatives are part of the Smart City Alicante 21-27 Plan, which includes actions for digital literacy of citizens and promoting business competitiveness through new technologies.

The courses, lasting 20 hours with a capacity of 15 to 20 people, cover Artificial Intelligence and commonly used applications, mobile phone usage, cybersecurity fundamentals, how to conduct transactions from home with the administration, and the functioning and management of social networks.

So far, 13 training sessions have been conducted, and 3 more are pending completion or celebration, resulting in 148 people obtaining their training certificate, 44 of whom were trained in northern zone facilities and 104 in Edusi area facilities.

"The demand shows us the need for this key training to learn how to handle devices and applications that allow us to carry out many day-to-day procedures and not leave anyone behind in the advancement of technology use," said the Councillor for Strategic Plans and European Projects, Antonio Peral.

The courses have been held in the morning at the EDUSI Office, located in the old tobacco factory, with temporary entry through Cuesta de la Fábrica street, and in the afternoon at the Municipal Educational Resource Innovation Centre CIREM on Capitán Segarra street, 30, while in the northern zone they have taken place at the Integrated Municipal Centre Plaza Argel and the Juan XXIII Coexistence and Participation Centre.

The department has launched a new program until July with the celebration of another 13 courses in the Edusi territory and seven in the northern zone on AI, mobile phones, home transactions, social networks, and cybersecurity. New additions include a basic computer and digital content creation course with office automation and another specific for merchants on the use of social networks and commercial campaign design, consisting of 10 sessions of two hours at noon in the old tobacco factory between May 28 and June 18.

Another novelty is two camps on Artificial Intelligence for children aged 14 to 17, taking place from April 22 to 25 from 9 am to 2 pm at the Factory, and another for July.

The courses, organized by the Alicante City Council in collaboration with the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Commerce, and Tourism, are taught by Adecco and funded by the European Next Generation program.

The individuals who have already completed this training are predominantly female, unemployed, with primary education, and aged between 15 and 84 years.

However, differences are observed between residents of the northern zone and the rest of the city. In the former case, ages are almost evenly distributed from 30 to 70 years, and all individuals are unemployed and have primary education, except one. In the latter case, the majority age range is between 40 and 59 years, with 83% declaring primary education and 93% also being unemployed.

The most demanded courses have been mobile phone usage in the northern zone and Artificial Intelligence, mobile phones, and how to conduct transactions from home in the rest. In the latter two, a session is dedicated to obtaining the digital certificate and assisting with its installation and management, with over 40 transactions.