Major players in the IT industry, including IBM and Anderson Consulting, have joined forces with the e-skills NTO (the officially recognised voice of the sector) to find out why IT is failing to attract women graduates. Together, they will ensure that universities understand what today’s industry is really about.
The IT industry now drives the performance of every other business in the UK. It is growing at the rate of 34% every year and has more staff than the teaching profession. However 10% of jobs are currently vacant and this will prevent the growth the industry needs to retain and build competitive advantage. Yet if women were to enter the industry in similar proportions to men, the skills shortage could be addressed in a single step.
Women, however, are now less likely to work in the industry than they were five years ago (from 30% five years ago to less than 25% today). Women undergraduates from non-IT degrees are less than half as likely to enter the industry as their male counterparts and of those who do choose IT degrees, 70% do not take up IT jobs. It is difficult for careers advisers in universities to keep up with the fast changing nature of the industry and women students in particular continue to think that the industry is impersonal and deeply technical. A Government Study last year (DTI / DfEE Skills Strategy Group for IT, Communications and Electronics Report) quoted a survey which showed that people would prefer to become undertakers than work in the IT industry.
The e-skills NTO has begun the work by launching major surveys with IT employers, graduates, undergraduates from all disciplines, and Careers professionals to map out the problem and identify possible solutions. You can give your views on-line at
www.e-skillsnto.org.uk
.
For further information, please contact:
Anne Cantelo
e-skills NTO
Tel/Fax
Email