Free courses will be offered to adults over 19 and in employment to help them rapidly upskill or retrain.

Up to 4,000 working adults will be offered the new short technical skills courses at Institutes of Technology (IoT) later this month, as reported by FE Week.

Sixty-five short and modular courses in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects have been developed by IoTs, as part of a pilot being funded through the National Skills Fund.

Priority for the courses will be given to people who are employed locally to an IoT in sought-after industries such as digital or healthcare.

Courses will include cyber security, artificial intelligence, digitisation of manufacturing, digital construction and agricultural robotics.

Learners will study through a mix of classroom and remote online learning and courses will vary in length from 50 to 138 hours.

Michelle Donelan, minister for further and higher education, said: "These fantastic new courses will open up more training alternatives for adults, address skills gaps in our economy and level up opportunities across the country."

A total of £6.4 million is being invested to support IoTs to offer the free courses

The IoTs have worked in partnership with local employers to develop the courses and ensure they will help address skills gaps, meaning employees from both large businesses and SMEs will be able to benefit.