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Industry and Professional Bodies Promote IT Skills Formation

by Stephen Withers

Monday, 18 December 2006

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and the Australian Computer Society (ACS) are collaborating in an attempt to improve IT skills within the Australian workforce.

The Industry Leadership Group will also involve organisations representing federal and state governments, school, vocation education, and tertiary education providers, ICT and business associations, the ICT research community, and women in ICT, the bodies said in a joint announcement.

"Both associations are committed to demonstrating leadership to ensure we can capture the imaginations of the next generation of ICT workers," according to AIIA CEO Sheryle Moon.

According to ACS president Philip Argy, the group will work on a broad front, especially to improve the image of ICT as a career, and identifying clear pathways from education to careers.

That's an important point, as there is a apparent lack of interest in IT as a career among school students, which may be due to the lingering echoes of the 'tech wreck' early this decade plus the more recent trend to offshoring. IT is no longer seen by students and their advisors as a reasonably safe, challenging and rewarding career, but rather one involving long hours of drudge work, ordinary pay, poor prospects and a good chance of periods of unemployment. The 2006 survey of graduate employment and salaries did little to put the gloss back on the idea of an IT career.

AIIA chairman Peter Kazacos said "Building and maintaining a world-class ICT workforce is necessary to meet the current and future needs of the economy. ICT is becoming more pervasive and more embedded in every aspect of human activity. So, we are going to need more people with ICT skills, not fewer."{moscomment}

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