By Tim Ferguson, 9 May 2007 15:40
NEWS
The UK must address the IT skills shortage if it is to remain competitive and deal with emerging rivals such as China.
That's according to a report from the Information Age Partnership (IAP) i2010 working group, which recommends government, industry and academia should improve the way they collaborate in order for the UK to stay ahead.
With the UK recently dropping outside the top five countries for innovation - according to the World Intellectual Property Institute - for the first time in 30 years, the group's work has taken on more urgency.
Speaking at the launch of the 'Delivering i2010' report, industry minister Margaret Hodge said: "There's a structural difficulty in getting people to take IT qualifications – we're doing a lot, it's not enough."
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And Mike Rodd, director at the British Computer Society, added: "The skills agenda is really serious - there's a pipeline problem." As well as IT skills, workers also require business skills to back them up, he said.
He also emphasised the UK's strength in R&D but warned this could also be challenged. He said: "We let that research base drift at our peril."
Nigel Payne of e-skills UK welcomed the report in the efforts to tackle the skills shortage. Showing the scale of the skills shortage, he cited a 43 per cent drop in those studying computer science at A-Level between 2001 and 2006.
But despite this he remains positive about the current situation. Payne said: "We're building on excellence, not starting from zero."
The report contains 22 recommendations to maintain the UK's current position, including the development of a government strategy to make students aware of the national importance of IT.
The emphasis was also put on academic institutions to add a more commercial element to research while businesses are encouraged to assess future skills needs and work with higher education to achieve this.
The report also encourages government, industry and academia groups to boost public awareness of IT achievements in the UK.
Comments
There are 12 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
hey kids sign up for these IT courses
three years of your life well spent and only 20K or so in loans to repay
you won't be guaranteed a job at the end of it as you'll be competing with people in foreign countries where the cost of living is much lower for work, won't that be exciting, think of the challenge
if you do get a job you'll be paid very little, even more so with the loan repayments, as your skills won't be seen as valuable by your immediate superiors who all have MBA's and go on courses and speak a different language and don't understand you
yes be regarded as a disposable cost centre, have no job security, no money, be regarded as a geek by your friends who all take degrees in tourism and parcel wrapping and are guaranteed well paying jobs at the end of it
do a degree in IT today
... well I can't see why the kids aren't flocking to the universities can you
then of course I could get on the soapbox about ageism and there not being a skills shortage just an unwillingness to hire older people who actually have more skills than the ones being sought
but as we all know, ageism is a myth put about by old unemployed people with nothing better to do ... they should get jobs
there isn't a skills shortage
but there will be
2. Roger Huffadine
Do it for the good of the Country eh? - ever tried to in the present litigious bureaucratic choking business environment that is UK plc?
25 years ago I innovated, built an IT business and prospered - would I do it today? - NO WAY - I would rather work for someone else and let them take the strain. There is NO HOPE for UK plc whilst we are restricted by mountains of legislation that does nothing but make jobs for desk jockeys who are incapable of doing a proper productive job. Compete with China 'yer 'avin a larf. It isn't rocket science - they don't have all of the restrictive bureaucracy that chokes the UK - they will always win hands down. Let's face it the prospects for UK plc are dire, we need to cut the ties with Europe, dump most of the silly legislation that chokes businesses, let schools teach real subjects - instead of the crappy National curriculum - and instead of talking about innovation give huge tax breaks for anyone prepared to risk all they have to innovate, that way we might just hold our own :)
3. Ian Paterson
It is not surprising to see a 43% drop in people studying computer sciences in the UK.
Student debt and the profile of IT is a big negative millstone to carry around. Look at the only press IT gets in the UK. The billions upon billions squandered in failed government IT projects and the slating anything remotely computer related gets afterwards.
Technology is not promoted other than XBOX or PS3 or mobile phones. Black box products with no skills required.
IT has never been sexy but it needs a good dose of Viagra to get anyone's attention these days.
4. Haydn Rees
Her Majesty's Government should get off the fence about whether it wants an indigenous IT sector or not, or risk splinters in it's institutional .
If not; just say so. Accept defeat and offer visas to anyone with an IT degree irrepective of where they are from. Offshore everything you don't farm out to Bodyshops.
If so; let small companies breathe; specifically Contractors.
5. I'm alright (at the moment) Jack
Oh yeah - that's right - flood the market in three years with cheap Tech staff and watch my market worth and wages plummet. >:(
Please stop publishing these types of articles immediately or I will start blogging about how there is a huge shortage of tech writers and journalists - see if you like it!
6. SteveyG
You don't NEED an IT degree to do IT. You need decent employers who are willing to train graduates and offer some sort of job security. That's what makes an industry attractive.
Why aren't employers doing this? Because they're busy selling the family jewels to offshore locations.
Do they care whether or not there is an IT industry in the UK? No! Of course not! Why should they? IT is an expense that takes money out of shareholders' pockets. Get it done cheaply and to hell with the consequences for the country.
7. Sarah
For a moment Karen, I thought you were being sarcastic!!! Well said.
Like Roger, I too have created, built and sold businesses in IT in the past. And I too would not do it now, or at least, not with staff. The legislation is throttling to any (especially) small business.
Together with ageism (which is of course our imagination) and a general unwillingness to train IT staff, it is no wonder that we are falling so far behind.
8. alan
and of course this has nothing to do with age discrimination eating away at the tail end of UK IT employment while outsourcing continues to discourage new blood at the sharp end.
9. Richard Sarson
I suggest that the BCS and the Universties take a hard look at whether their courses and qualifications are relevant to a 'social neworking' age, where all kids know how to work and play on the Internet.
They, and most silicon.com commentators, should stop moaning about the government, ageism and everybody else but themselves. They should learn a few survival skills instead. Trust me, it can be done.
10. Henry Blatch
The truth is that there are far fewer IT jobs in the UK now, both because of large numbers of jobs being sent abroard and the decline of UK technology industry in its own right. Working in IT was never a very good career even 10-15 years ago, and now it is distinctly second rate. The most telling indicator of this is how wages for IT jobs have fallen in real terms over the last 10 years, both permanent jobs and the hourly rates earned by independent contractors. Allowing for inflation, IT salaries are now much lower than they were 10 years ago. There is a glut of computer science graduates on the job market and a severe shortage of jobs. Anyone thinking of entering this industry has to consider that they are likely to be made redundant in a few years as their job is likely to be transferred to India. No wonder students are opting for other subjects and dumping the computer science degree courses.
11. Sam Jones
I don't know how it is in the UK but here in the US IT job prospects are confusing and a lot of young people are avoiding the IT field.
The government keeps telling us that there is a shortage of IT workers. Bill Gates and other IT industry luminaries keep going to Washington to lobby for increasing the number of foreigners allowed into the country to work in IT (via the H1-B visa).
And the government keeps telling us that 3 of the top 10 job growth categories are in IT. But every single one of the IT folks that I talk to know unemployed IT workers and are afraid that they will wind up the same way. Ageism is rampant and a great fear. The threat of offshoring is the overwhelming fear.
I do Java/J2EE development for a major electronic publishing company. Our bread and butter is software and information processing. A majority of our revenues come from eCommerce. I enjoy my work and feel that I contribute directly to the success of the company.
Software development work at the company is currently partitioned between in-house and off-shore. About 60% of the workers are off-shored to India. Of the remainder that are here in the US, about 40% of that in-house team are Indians on H1-B visas. If that's the way it is in the UK, I sympathize with you.
Low-to-mid-level Managers I know have confided to me that they are convinced that the executives want to take virtually all software development offshore because even with the low-cost H1-B serfs on the in-house team the onshore costs are still too high to suit the executives.
I very much like my Indian coworkers because they are very nice people. And I wish them the best. But their presence is definitely hurting the chances for Americans to find a job in IT in America. And the threat of total offshoring is terrifying.
I don't know what the answer is to the alleged IT skills shortage in the UK (and US). But I do have a question. When all the workers are in India or China, why will the businesses need executives/headquarters in the UK (or US)?
12. anonymous
I agree with all the comments so far and would just like to add my own;
I am an ex Technical Director who worked for a Central Government organisation, I was made redundant due to corrupt deals which had I stayed in post I would have exposed so it was time to get rid, by far means or foul (I will leave the readers to guess which)? I applied for work for over a year and got nothing "over qualified" (I was 58 years old) so NO too old is the truth. I now work in Saudi Arabia been exiled by my country to find that this country is full of highly qualified "old" IT professionals, what a major brain drain this is, the fact that they are more than capable of doing the work in the UK they are just not employable because of their age, so WHERE IS THE SHORTAGE OF TECH SKILLS?? There isn't one we are all working overseas because our own country will not employ us. ALL MOST OF US WANT TO DO IS COME HOME AND DO A DECENT DAYS WORK FOR A DECENT DAYS PAY.
The IT industry in the UK would be back in its feet in no time and we could pass on all our skill to the younger generations.