Microsoft: We need more IT graduates

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 12 Jun 2007 at 13:09

The British IT industry needs more graduates and women if it is to compete with the US, according to a new Microsoft-commissioned report.

The Developing The Future 2007 report paints a picture of the UK as a high-tech centre rivaling the US in terms of business services and digital design. But this is conditional on the supply of a suitably skilled workforce.

'The supply of IT graduates must increase to reflect the UK's shift to a Knowledge Economy,' writes Gordon Frazer, MD of Microsoft UK in the foreword. 'Schools must also ensure that crucial computing skills are made available to all at GCSE level as well as at A-level and beyond. Industry must also work in concert with academia and government to ensure that UK citizens can constantly refresh their skills throughout their working lives.'

The key findings of the report are the need to address a widening skills gap in the UK, to stimulate greater interest in computing education from the age of 11 onwards, and to more actively support innovation within the SME software development sector.

Specifically, the reports finds that only 30% of graduates from IT-related degrees chose to follow an IT career. 'The question facing the UK is whether there will be enough people working in the primary IT sector to develop the tools, applications and technologies that will be needed in other sectors that are heavily IT dependent such as financial services,' writes the report.

Part of the problem lies with the lack of female recruits for the industry states the report. It says that despite numerous industry initiatives, less than a fifth of the UK's IT workforce is female. 'If it is to fill its skills gap, the IT industry needs to recruit from the entire talent, not merely the masculine half,' it states. 'Currently, only 17% of those undertaking IT-related courses are women.'

It estimates the current UK IT workforce as averaging 156,000-179,000 per annum, covering both new jobs created from growth and replacement demand.

The report also notes that the UK economy is fast approaching a point where the 'Knowledge Economy' will soon contribute 50% of UK GDP (Gross Domestic Product). 'With its unique overlap of financial services, technology, media, venture capital, and government interests, London is rapidly becoming a global hub for a new class of entrepreneur as well as being an international capital for creative industries such as digital effects for the film industry and video games.'

You can download the second edition of Developing the Future (PDF) from here. It was produced in conjunction with the British Computer Society, Intellect and London's City University.