Pupils urged to switch on and end the shortage of IT graduates

Published on Wednesday 27 May 2009 21:59

BUSINESSES in Scotland are suffering from a shortage of IT graduates, according to a world– leading university computing department.

Fiona Dick, of Heriot-Watt's schools of maths and computer sciences, said more needs to be done to encourage pupils to take computer qualifications.

The Scotsman earlier this month revealed councils are cutting computing courses in a bid to save cash.

Ms Dick said: "Employers across Scotland and beyond desperately need talented computing graduates and Scotland isn't producing enough of them.

"We hope to encourage pupils to consider choosing Higher computing and then to think about going on to university to study the subject."

She has worked with the industry to alert pupils to the growing number of jobs available in IT at a special event at the Edinburgh university's campus today.

Employers including Microsoft, Cisco, British Telecom and IBM hope to persuade third year pupils studying the subject at Standard Grade to consider it as a long-term career choice.

Schools Minister Keith Brown is also expected to attend the event and encourage youngsters to consider IT.

Polly Purvis, executive director of Scotland Information Systems (Scotland IS), which represents the IT industry, said employers were keen to recruit pupils to the subject.

She said: "The ICT industry employs 70,000 highly skilled and highly paid people across Scotland, but often young people are unaware of the opportunities right here on their doorstep."

At least eight authorities have secondaries which are dropping the subject at exam level, The Scotsman revealed last month, and at least ten schools which were offering Advanced Higher or Higher computing in 2007-8 did not offer it this year.

Councils blamed a fall in uptake for the subject for the drop in provision. However, business leaders said IT skills were a crucial skill for almost every job.