Published on the 18/06/2013 | Written by Newsdesk
While IT skills supply and demand remains a largely balanced equation courtesy of the economy, demand for IT university courses continues to slide, which is why the Government has stepped in…
The Australian Government has established a $6.5 million Digital Careers programme intended to encourage more school students to consider a career in ICT. It’s the latest attempt to arrest declining interest in ICT which, left unchecked, may leave local businesses struggling to find skills in the medium term.
According to the most recent statistics available 4300 Australians obtained tertiary ICT qualifications in 2010, down from 9093 in 2003. According to the Australian Council of Deans of ICT (Acdict) there “Is a crisis in ICT because of falling enrolments since the early part of the millennium and the related skills shortage”.
It is precisely this issue that the Government is seeking to tackle – but Acdict noted in a recent report that there have already been “numerous attempts to reverse the downturn in interest in ICT but the evidence for success is hard to find”. It acknowledged that this was not unique to Australia, but a phenomenon facing many other nations.
Despite this bleak history Acdict is one of the participants in the new Digital Careers Programme, along with research leader National ICT Australia, the Australian Computer Society and the Australian Information Industry Association. Co-ordinated by NICTA the programme will involve leaders from universities, TAFEs, and industry travelling around Australia explaining what ICT careers might involve, and attempting to enthuse schoolchildren about the sector.
A particular focus will be placed on encouraging girls to consider a career in ICT. Currently only about one in five ICT students is female.
Enterprises have in the past been able to plug skills gaps using the 457 Visa scheme, bringing in skilled workers on temporary permits. However the Federal Government has been seeking to clamp down on abuse of the programme, saying that in the past Australian businesses have hired ICT workers from abroad on 457 Visas to keep costs down rather than to plug a genuine skills gap.
Legislation revising the 457 Visa regime was introduced to Parliament earlier this month. There are now just two sitting weeks to pass the Bill through the Senate before Parliament rises ahead of the September election.
