Implementing a well thought out IT training programme is
essential for corporate IT training and IT directors, who have long
complained that there is an IT skills crisis in the UK, bemoaning
the lack of candidates in the
UK marketplace with the right mix of skills.
An influential think tank, the Institute for the Management of
Information Systems, said in April last year that without heavy
investment in IT training, the
UK will be facing critical shortages of project and programme
managers within six years. This shortage could threaten the future
of
big government
and private sector IT projects.
The
BCS is also predicting a 25% fall in computer science graduates by
2009, which will further acerbate the skills
problems and affect the UK's ability to compete in a global
marketplace. The IT industry is one of the fastest growing sectors
in the UK economy and is increasingly responsible for generating a
growing proportion of the UK's gross domestic product.
At the end of 2006,
academics revealed that fewer than 13,000 new computer science
graduates joined the IT labour market each year. According to
the Council for Professors and Heads of Computing, in 2005, some
12,804 people out of 31,450 who had started a computer science
course found IT roles with UK-based employers.
As well as galvanising industry to help universities and schools
attract more computer science graduates, the British Computer
Society (BCS) is trying to make the
IT industry a more professional sector. It believes the sector
is about a third of the way to becoming fully professional. The BCS
is collaborating with suppliers group
Intellect, the National Computing Centre, and
e-skills UK
to put the building blocks in place to professionalise IT
and cement IT training programs.
This work aims to establish a commitment from IT professionals
to develop their skills through training in IT and seeks to aims to
make IT professionals more accountable for their
decision-making.
Free online IT training is available through several providers,
such as the
e-learning center,
Microsoft IT training,
the
National IT Learning Centre and
The Open University. For more advice on IT training, see our
hotskills series that has lots of advice and details across a
wide range of IT training programs.
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blogs
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