OREANDA-NEWS. Tata Consultancy Services (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading IT services, consulting and business solutions organisation, was honoured at the 8th Annual Hr Network National Awards 2014. The company was given the 'Corporate Responsibility Award of the Year, sponsored by Scottish and Southern Energy, for its work to inspire young people to choose STEM careers under its flagship IT Futures Programme.

The Hr Network National Awards is one of the most prestigious awards in the HR profession and this year's event in Glasgow was attended by over 800 HR professionals in Scotland. The awards recognise and celebrate outstanding achievements in people management and development and the impact that they have on business success.

Nupur Mallick, Head of HR, UK & Ireland at TCS, said: "It is vital that businesses play their role in inspiring young people to choose STEM careers. We are delighted that our efforts to get directly involved in schools and universities have been recognised at the prestigious Annual Hr Network National Awards. We look forward to building on this recognition as we strive to make an even greater impact on growing IT skills and promoting STEM careers in the UK."

TCS's IT Futures programme has brought together over 7,000 employees in the UK to help promote IT skills. In total, the company has committed over 6,000 hours of time, helping to engage over 9,000 students in the age group of 11-18 in technology and educate them about possible STEM career options.

TCS's activities over the last year included:

Partnering with MyKindaCrowd, an organisation that specialises in engaging young people in partnership with business, to reach secondary school pupils in deprived areas and excite them about a STEM career path. TCS has worked with MyKindaCrowd to deliver over 70 STEM skills sessions up and down the country. As well as explaining the big tech trends shaping society, the sessions bring together engineers and pupils to solve real world IT challenges. For example, pupils are asked to think about how companies can use big data to improve the customer experience.

Working with Three Hands to challenge students from four top UK universities - London School of Economics and Political Science, University of East Anglia, University of Bristol and University of Edinburgh - to use technology to solve the real business needs of charities local to them.

TCS has also partnered with Teach First, an organisation which places outstanding graduates to teach in schools in deprived areas, to launch a programme that will support high-quality ICT teachers in schools serving low-income communities, helping to attract high-performing graduates and IT specialists to teach and lead in classrooms.

Creating, in partnership with educational organisation STEMnet, a bespoke programme of tailored Ambassador training as well as resources for use in schools.

Working with 30 schools throughout the academic year to participate in Apps for Good, an open-source technology education movement, with TCS employees running support sessions. This partnership aims to reach more than 3,000 students over the next two years.