A new campaign has been launched to get more teenagers
interested in IT.
Numbers of students taking IT at university at
A-level have plummeted in the past few years, leading to a
shortage of applicants for many IT jobs.
The campaign aims to show teenagers the variety of jobs on
offer, and help them understand what IT-related degrees could teach
them.
The campaign, called
BigAmbition, is run by
e-skills, the IT sector skills council.
The campaign's website contains interactive tools designed to
increase interest in IT and there are videos of IT professionals
from companies such as
British
Airways, BT and
Myspace.
The site also aims to explain the variety of degree courses on
offer. It splits courses into four "families" to help students
better understand their options.
To launch the campaign, e-skills is running a
competition for one student to win a week's work experience at
ITV in London.
Karen Price, chief executive of e-skills, said, "The next
generation of IT professionals has a huge role to play in terms of
UK competitiveness. The sector is large and growing - we need
141,000 new IT professionals every year.
"Young people really enjoy using technology in their everyday
lives and BigAmbition is full of information about how they can
build on that interest with a variety of exciting, well-paid
careers in the IT sector."